People Can Change

 

In the 1100s, in an effort to protect travelers going from northern Spain over the Pyrenees Mountain Range to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Noted in the book “Dogs of God” by James Reston Jr., p50), a military force known as the hermandad’s (Spanish: “the brotherhood”) was organized. Soon, these vigilantes spread across Spain and offered themselves as protectors of roads and merchants. Eventually appointed as a national police force who could collect taxes and prevent insurrection in every municipality, they would go on to exterminate untold numbers of Muslims, Jews, and other “enemies of the state” during the Middle Ages. Reston mentions an unsettling “right” granted to the hermandad’s in the 15th Century, during the famous reign of Isabella and Ferdinand. He writes, “In a curious turnabout, executions took place first, and trials were held afterwards” (p51).

Given our country’s constitutional concept of “innocent until proven guilty,” this practice seems both backward and barbaric. How useful is a trial to present facts about a case after the defendant has been executed? What if the deceased was found innocent? What if there was no proof of guilt? Of course, the “facts” of every case incredibly supported the punitive action that preceded it. While we may find such a practice appalling, how often do we do the same with our tongues? Through rash anger, reckless gossip, and rabid prejudice, we can serve as judge, jury, and executioner of the reputation and actions of another. “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way” (James 3:8-10). How often do we jump to conclusions and assassinate another’s character, but later revelations prove our actions both premature and unjustifiable? Unfortunately, the damage having been done, nothing produced by way of reparation can fully undo the effects upon the victim. Be careful! Even when we think we have the facts about another, let us post a guard outside the door of our lips (cf. Psalm 141:3). What we need to see is the spiritual danger we face who “execute” before “trial.” “He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him” (Proverbs 18:13). Better to deliberate and reserve judgment than to execute before the trial has been held!

[Romans 1:16] Jesus Christ introduced into the world the greatest power to change men the world has ever known. That power is the gospel: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” It is sometimes said of those in sin, “They will never change.” While it is true that sin can have a death grip on anyone, it is also possible, if one’s heart be willing, to make a complete transforming change in their way of living – turn their life around.

An elderly man spent years of vanity in the nothingness of ungodly living and looking back with tear-filled eyes over the mountains of heartaches and acres of regrets cried, “I’m so tired of sin. Can someone help me?” A drunkard became disgusted with himself and said, “I want to change.” He did. You can too. Yes, people can change. Peter changed from a coward into an intrepid proclaimer of God’s word (Matthew 26:74; Acts 2:1-42). An up-and-coming young Pharisee named Saul first persecuted the church, but he changed and began “…preaching the faith which once he destroyed” (Galatians 1:23). What great hope the gospel brings! Do you need to make a change? The change begins in obedience to the gospel, the good news of salvation. (Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:1-14).

Building Back Better 2.0

 

Filters of all kinds perform a great service as unsung heroes in our lives. They help keep us healthy and prolong the life of nearly every machine we use. Air, oil, fuel, water, and many more filters keep equipment clean and operating as they were designed to do. Of course, filters have to be maintained and cleaned as they get dirty. The most important filter in life is God’s Word. Unfortunately, more and more folks are simply throwing their filter away instead of allowing God to maintain its cleanliness through His Word. The world is dying for the lack of truth, wisdom, integrity, and Godly love. The end is near.

[Psalm 19:14] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, oh Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer. Building a better world begins with me. I must be willing to give my time, talents, money, and energies to make the world in which I live a better place. I truly believe that the only real way to make this world better is for me to be a faithful and dedicated child of God. A faithful and dedicated child of God will proclaim the good news of salvation. Jesus said, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). The word "gospel" means good news. We have good news to tell the world. The news of salvation and forgiveness. The news of God's wonderful love and offer of pardon. Are we working to build a better world by preaching Christ? We can build a better world by being positive about life. So many are filled with the critical spirit. They see very little good anywhere. There is so much that is good in our world that we should be thankful for. I don't want to waste my life looking only at the ugly and bad. God has given me so much that is good, and it would be sinful for me to fail to recognize that. In Philippians 4:8 Paul said that the things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report are the things I should dwell on. This does not mean that I will refuse to recognize false doctrine and condemn that which is evil. It does mean that my overall life will be one of a positive and happy nature. Only in tears and a broken heart will I point out the devil. I will do so "in meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15b). We can build a better world by prayer. The great force of prayer has in many ways been neglected by many of God's people. The Bible says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16b). I think of the great prayers of Moses who on several occasions saved the people of Israel by his steadfast prayers. I think of the prayers of David that delivered him time and time again from his enemies. I am reminded of the great prayers of Elijah and that God worked through Elijah to proclaim to the world His great power. God’s people can use prayer to make this world better. Finally, we can build a better world by keeping our heart in heaven! The Bible says, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2). This may sound rather strange, but it is the truth. Often, it is the case that people get so caught up in the here and now that they fail to really contribute to the welfare of mankind. By keeping our eyes on heaven, we will be a better people. We will be able to see what is really important and what is of minor consequence. Many are majoring in minors and minoring in majors. We can build a better world by keeping our hearts in heaven! We can build a better world if we will only become partners with God. As our beloved brother Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8 ESV). Think God.

Are You Driven or Drawn?

 

“The Buffoon and the Countryman” a fable of Aesop: At a country fair there was a Buffoon who made all the people laugh by imitating the cries of various animals. He finished off by squeaking so like a pig that the spectators thought that he had a porker concealed about him. But a Countryman who stood by said: "Call that a pig's squeak! Nothing like it. You give me till tomorrow, and I will show you what it's like." The audience laughed, but next day, sure enough, the Countryman appeared on the stage, and putting his head down squealed so hideously that the spectators hissed and threw stones at him to make him stop. "You fools!" he cried, "see what you have been hissing," and held up a little pig whose ear he had been pinching to make him utter the squeals. Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.

Several years ago, long before children were required to be in car seats, a mother was having trouble with her young daughter staying seated and in her seat belt. The little girl, like most children of that time, wanted to stand up and see where she was going. The mother repeatedly told her daughter to “sit down and buckle up!” The daughter became rebellious and continued to stand up in the seat while her mom was driving. Finally, the mother pulled over and threatened the little girl with something she could not resist. But, as she reluctantly sat down, the little girl defiantly said, “I may be sitting down, but in my mind, I’m still standing!”

[Luke 22:39-42] I’m afraid many Christians are like the little girl. They feel forced to do God’s will, when in their hearts, if they had their way, they would do something else. They feel compelled; they feel obligated; they feel it’s their duty to obey God. In other words, they feel driven to do God’s will because of the guilt of their sin and the desire for forgiveness instead of being drawn to do God’s will as a response to His love and grace. They are obedient but not surrendered. Think of the difference between cowboys driving cattle and a shepherd leading his sheep (John 10). While there are times, we will need to obey God’s will even when our hearts are not in it, being drawn to follow God’s way is always better than being driven to follow God. Jesus said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). That’s exactly what happened in Acts 2. The preaching of the cross (2:22-24) so stirred the hearts of the crowd that they had to ask how they could be saved (2:36-37). Their hearts were pierced by the preaching of the cross, and they were drawn to surrender to Jesus as Lord and Christ. Yes, they wanted the forgiveness that came through baptism (Acts 2:38), but they wanted more than that. They were drawn by Jesus into changing their whole lives, as evidenced by being devoted to following God (Acts 2:42) and being devoted to each other (Acts 2:43-47). There is a world of difference between being driven by fear and guilt and being drawn by love and grace. Fear of consequences may force a little girl to sit down in her seat, and it may drive a person to seek forgiveness from God but responding to fear and guilt alone rarely changes the rebellion in a person’s heart. That may be a necessary place for some to start, but somewhere in our spiritual journey our hearts need to grow deeper than the external pressures of conformity into the transformational draw of a renewed mind (Romans 12:2). A spiritually mature Christian grows beyond duty to desire, beyond obligation to longing, beyond strict obedience to total surrender. It is difficult to remain faithful to God if our hearts are driven only by fear; it’s difficult to fall away if our hearts are drawn by Jesus’ love. …God is love… (1 John 4:8, 16); therefore, love God.

This World Is Not My Home

 

The following article was found in Bulletin Digest July 2015 titled, “This World Is Not My Home” written by Michael Gilbert –

It just makes sense that the Lord’s people should discuss their future destination. It also makes sense that we talk about heaven because of the terrible things that happen in our world which remind us that life is short. As a favorite song says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through…my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door…and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” Heaven is truly “delayed gratification.” As Christians, we are constantly tempted by the world to focus on the here and now – “instant gratification”. We live in a society of instant gratification, a society where people want to delay and defer absolutely nothing. They certainly don’t want to defer the gratification of self-indulgence - they just want to defer the pain that goes along with it. Take, for example, the credit card…oh how folks want what they want, when they want it, so they use the plastic to get it! It’s reflective of the attitude that says, “I want what I want, and I want it now.” Folks are not into anything being put off into the future and we are glad to “sacrifice the future on the altar of the immediate.” We don’t want to wait for anything…the pleasure must be instant, immediate. As a result of living in such a society – a society of materialistic indulgence – sometimes we Christians fall prey to that and we no longer have our affections set on things above, as Colossians 3:1-2 tells us. Rather, we set our affections on instant sinful pleasure. It has become difficult for us to focus on a “hard to understand future home in the afterlife.” As a result, sometimes we become less committed to laying up our treasure in heaven (delayed gratification), and more committed to laying up our treasure here (instant gratification). Let’s fight that temptation!

Everything that is precious to us as Christians is in heaven. For example: Our Father (Matthew 6:9) Our Savior (1 Peter 3:20-21) Our Brothers & Sisters in the Faith (Hebrews 12:22-23) Our Names (Luke 10:20) Our Inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-4) Our Citizenship (Philippians 3:20) Our Eternal Reward (Matthew 5:10-12) Our Master (Ephesians 6:9) Our Treasure (Matthew 6:19-21). If we expect to go to heaven, we must delay earthly gratification for the heavenly reward.

Back in 2008, country music artist Kenny Chesney painted a picture in the song, “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” of the desire for “instant gratification” that will cause many to miss heaven. Chesney sang:

“Preacher told me last Sunday mornin’/Son, you better start livin’ right/You need to quit the women and whiskey/And carryin’ on all night/Don’t you wanna hear Him call your name/When you’re standin’ at the pearly gates?/I told the preacher, “Yes I do”/But I hope they don’t call today/I ain’t ready/Everybody wanna go to heaven/Have a mansion high above the clouds/Everybody wanna go to heaven/But nobody wanna go now.”

[Romans 1:18-2:16] We are witnessing more and more of the self-gratifying population of the world being duped by the evil one into “going along to get along”. I believe God is turning them over to their own evil desires letting them run amuck, no longer making any sense, as they govern with their pseudo-sciences of life. In the end, God is not going to judge the world on what it has accomplished, but on what He has established from the very beginning. (Genesis 1) God created the heavens and the earth; every living creature; every plant and seed; man and woman; natures law; and it was good.

The Dove and The Hawk

 

It was a Saturday, and he was doing some work in the house. The front door was open, but the glass storm door was closed. Suddenly, he heard something hit the storm door, hard! Had someone thrown a rock at the door? Was it a foul ball from the kid’s playing baseball across the street? As he ran to the door, he saw two objects lying on the porch. The first he recognized as a white-wing dove and appeared to be dead. The other was a magnificent red-wing hawk. Its wings were spread out and its head on the concrete motionless. Thinking for a moment it became clear the probability of what had occurred. The hawk evidently swooped down on the dove and in a panic move the dove flew toward the door, which appeared to be an escape route, resulting in both birds smashing up against the glass door. Somehow, the door glass didn’t even crack. Now, both birds were lying motionless on the porch. Not wanting to interfere with nature, the man watched the birds and in a few moments the hawk lifted its head. It had been knocked senseless. He kept checking on the bird without disturbing it. For over an hour the hawk stood on the porch trying to get its wits back. Finally, it spread its wings and flew off, without its dinner.

Was there anything evil in this act? Of course not. The dove and the hawk were both acting on the instincts that God gave them. But I think one can see a parable of life in this event. Sometimes I feel like the dove, and at other times I feel like the hawk. Like the dove, I can be going about my life, minding my own business, when all of a sudden something sinister enters in. Too many bills at the end of the money, sick children, upset wife, disappointed boss, etc. Any of these things can quickly turn life miserable. Without warning they can swoop down on us, forcing one to make immediate personal decisions. And, like the hawk, it could be I’m about to get something good when and unexpected wall looms up out of nowhere. And what I was counting on doesn’t come to fruition. Great disappointment is the result. Too often, life doesn’t go as we had planned it.

[Proverbs 19:23] When life doesn’t go as we plan one needs to remember these great truths: * God has a purpose for your life. God told Moses – “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). * God wants to provide for you. Concerning the worries of life, to you Jesus said – “…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-34). What things? Everything we need. David testified – “I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). * God’s presence is ever lovingly in your life. For He, Himself, has said, as recorded by the Hebrew writer – Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 27:1; 118:6).

I recently found an interesting quote from Robert Byrne. It is this: “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” I would qualify the quote by adding this: “The purpose of life is a life of purpose for God.” The writer of Ecclesiastes sought everything of the world to find the meaning of life. He concluded the purpose of life is to “…Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Find a purpose for your life that agrees with Scripture, and then live that life with passion and purpose. Praise God!