Being Good

You must try to be good.  You never will be, and you must not think of yourself as good; but you must diligently strive to be. And rest peacefully, knowing that the sacrificial blood of Christ bridges the narrowing gap between the person you are and the person you should be.

HOW'S YOUR LOVE LIFE?

 

 

Mat 24:12-13 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 

 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. [Jesus]

Jhn 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. [Jesus]

 

How are you doing at loving your people?  Your people are those you relate with or with whom you have any influence.  God has commanded you to love them.  Jesus said that His followers would be known by this love—it would be the crowning characteristic of His disciples.  He also said that, as the ages wind down toward the end, the “love of most will grow cold.”  Because of our sinful nature, it has always been hard for us to love each other; and Jesus says it will get harder.  “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”  When we see people hating and killing other people; when we see “wars and rumors of wars” [Mt.24:6]; when we see rampant greed on Wall Street and political corruption, we are tempted to feel hatred or fear—both of which are antithetical to love. When we are daily exposed to people who are tired, feeling harassed and hopeless, complaining about life—this challenges our ability to love.  People who have been abused or neglected in childhood, without Christ will not be loving adults. We see in this the truth of Jesus’ statements about love growing colder as spiritual darkness increases.   We must be very pro-active about loving our people.  We must keep our love warm and alive.

We do not love naturally.  If you carefully study children and adolescents, you will see what is natural for us:  selfishness, competitiveness, resentment of authority, insensitivity to others, and desire for comfort, pleasure, prestige and power.  Most of the good done by humans in their early years is done to impress others or to receive human praise.* We are not critical of them because of this—we know it is natural.  But we also see clearly in Jesus that it must be overcome—that we must evolve toward Christ’s unselfish love.  We desperately need His Holy Spirit in order to overcome this basic selfishness in us.  This is why prayer—regular communion with God—is necessary in order for us to mature.  It’s helpful to ask ourselves frequently—or better to ask the Lord:  How am I doing at loving my people?  This way of being leads to joy, peace and victory over all tribulation.  Our only confidence is in knowing that God knows our heart; and the core truth of our heart is that we want to love people with His love.  If we live or die in this endeavor, we are the most blessed people on earth.  Jesus has encouraged us to “stand firm [in His love] to the end.”

 

 

 Lord, please help me to never stop consciously, pro-actively loving people with Your Love.  Bless me Lord that today I will be a manifestation of Your love for all in my pathway.

 

 

 

 

*We do see outstanding acts of love in children and teens, but this is exceptional, which is what makes it newsworthy.

Male Ego

As a counselor, and as a fallen human being, I can attest to the difficulties of the male ego. Much of our growth in Christ has to do with subduing it. There are many things a woman can do regarding the male ego:  She can hate it. She can fear it or feel threatened by it. She can tear it down or build it up. But the best thing she can do is to lovingly help him to manage it. I think this is a part of what God had in mind at the Creation when He said, after creating man:  "It is not good for man to be alone."  Then He created woman.

Thank You Lord [a poem]

Thank You Lord for trees, and wind

That blows their leaves across our land

For all the green and growing things

For winter skies and bird-song sings

For taxicabs and restaurants

Good food, and air in vast amounts

 

For snowy days that change the world to black and white

And clear blue days that fill the world with sparkling light

 

For twisted tangleness of woods

Filled with creatures quick and small

That scurry ‘round in search of food

Like people in a shopping mall

Thank you for peace that settles in

Like starlings on the highest bough

To catch first rays of morning sun

Above the fields of furrowed plough

Where seeds will sprout and grow and soon

Be food for table; thread for loom

While ocean waves forever roll

Upon the shore and take their toll

On shells transforming into sand

Where children run with flailing hands

While parents watch with heartful glee

As terns with skillful accuracy

Dive like arrows piercing sea

Where hoards of living creatures flee

And live to swim another day

Among the currents’ gentle sway

Of seaweed, jellyfish and roe

Where multi-colored corals grow

Fed by filtered light of Sun

And flowing masses of plankton

 

All this as Earth goes turning on

Its way around the glorious Sun

And man meanders through his life

Half in the dark, half in the Light.

Mark Graham 1/13 Perry Hall, MD

 

Christianity and the Immune System

 

I have been struck with the similarities of how disease affects our bodies and how evil corrupts society. The HIV virus, for instance, “deceives” and invades healthy immune cells, and through a complicated process reprograms them to become HIV-producing factories. Slowly, the number of healthy immune cells dwindles and AIDS [Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome] develops, rendering the body susceptible to many diseases.  HIV corrupts and disables the system that should be guarding against HIV.  In Nazi Germany, Hitler professed Christianity and pledged to maintain religious freedom in order to gain support from the Catholic Pope. As his power grew, he replaced the Cross with the swastika, the Bible with Mein Kampf, and forbade pastors to speak from the pulpits of churches unless they professed the state religion. He eventually burned the Bible and indoctrinated young minds toward a political religion of his own devisal [obviously analogous to the HIV virus replicating itself]. He secretly loathed Christianity and saw it as a threat to his power [as it thankfully turned out to be in the work of true Christians like Dietrich Bonheoffer and millions of others who fought against the spread of the Third Reich].

In the cases of HIV and of the Third Reich, we see the dynamics of deception, invasion, corrosion, replacement and destruction. If we compare the body’s immune system to the Christian Faith, we see that many Christians of the day were deceived by Hitler; in the same manner that healthy T-cells are deceived by the HIV virus. If the body survives, the viral process is thwarted and enough healthy cells remain to protect the organism. This is analogous to the Allied victory in WWII.

 

Some view the Christian Faith or Western Culture as the virus that infects and destroys other cultures or religions. Currently Islamic extremists enact violence to push back what they perceive to be the corrosive effects of Christianity and westernization. Quoting an article by Steven Emerson entitled “Boston Bomber Reveals Islamist Secret”, recorded in “The Jewish World Review”:

 

That motivation echoes justifications offered by Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan for the Fort Hood shooting spree that killed 13 people and Faisal Shahzad's sentencing rant about his attempt to bomb Times Square in 2010. "The crusading U.S. and NATO forces who have occupied the Muslim lands under the pretext of democracy and freedom for the last nine years and are saying with their mouths that they are fighting terrorism, I say to them, we don't accept your democracy nor your freedom, because we already have Sharia law and freedom," Shahzad told the court. "Furthermore, brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun. Consider me only a first droplet of the flood that will follow me."

 

We are faced with the decision of which philosophy/theology to consider healthy, and which to consider the invasive, corroding factor. In making this decision, let us examine carefully and openly the “fruit” or results of those cultures that have been dominated or guided by each philosophy/theology. One important factor to consider in our response to this clash of religiously-shaped cultures is the fact that Islam, as opposed to both Christianity and Judaism, does not co-exist peacefully with other religions/cultures once it has gained dominance. As a life-long Christian, seminary graduate and serious Bible student, I think I can say conclusively that Christianity promotes voluntary transformation from within, but never justifies force, coercion or violence against unbelievers. Jesus Himself gave us this example. And this fact is born out in history. Antagonists would point out such events as the Crusades, bombing of abortion clinics and the medieval witch executions as examples to the contrary. Regarding the Crusades: It is frequently overlooked that they were in response to brutal expansion of Islam in that time period, and without them the world would likely be even more Islamized than it is today. But all examples of religious-motivated violence outside Islam pales in comparison to that within Islam, which is almost a daily occurrence. It is simply not rational to put religious violence enacted by radicals outside Islam on an equal par with that enacted within Islam, and to accuse those who point this out as being “Islam phobic”.  Christians all over the world join with non-Christians in protesting loudly and immediately against any violent act committed in the name of Christ.  Conversely, Islamists cry out against those who protest their brothers’ violent acts,  calling them “Islamophobes”. This only increases, in the non-Muslim world, suspicion and fear regarding the true motives and direction of Islam.  Or perhaps it reveals what those true motives are for a large number of Muslims who would, for now at least, label themselves moderate. One cannot help but wonder what resistance, if any, moderate Muslims would put forth against radical Muslims who were oppressing non-Muslims in a Muslim-dominated culture.  It seems likely that, if they did put forth resistance, they would themselves become the focus of such oppression. And why do that when your holy book [the Koran] teaches what the radicals are fighting for?

Christianity, I believe, is the nation’s or culture’s immune system against such oppression and invasion. To point out the violent or pathological manifestations of Christianity in an effort to support a movement toward its exclusion or eradication is equivalent to pointing out the autoimmune diseases [diseases like diabetes, crohn’s disease, or rheumatoid arthritis which are caused by an adverse or over-reaction of the immune system]  as a reason to eliminate the immune system.  This would represent a gross oversight of the good that comes from both the body’s immune system and the Christian Faith.

 

But we must keep our immune system healthy, vibrant and strong. This can never mean hateful, violent or fearful. But Christians must, more than ever, abide in Christ—in His peace, compassion, and courageous adherence to Truth. We must not stick our heads in the sand nor be deceived by nice-sounding philosophies of political-correctness or tolerance. Regarding tolerance, perhaps we should be guided by the wisdom of the physical body, which assimilates all that is healthy and enhances its survival, but which repels, expels or destroys that which is toxic to its survival.

 

PRIDE AND DESPAIR

 

 

Mat 5:16   Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

2Cr 4:7-8  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

 

Because of inherent self-centeredness, we are tempted by two maladies on opposite ends of a scale: pride on one side; despair on the other.  When we are doing well—hitting on all cylinders, seeing the good results of our efforts—we are tempted to begin to gloat in our own accomplishments. Pastor Don Baker writes in his courageous autobiography of his falling into this pit after God used him to cast out a demon from a poor soul who approached him after a speaking engagement. Quoting from his book, Depression: Finding Hope in Life’s Darkest Shadow: “If there had been any fault after my Satanist friend’s deliverance, it was that of self-glorification. I loved to tell that story. I delighted in the admiring responses. I quickly took the praise to myself….Pride engulfed me—and nearly destroyed me.”

He identified this pride as one of the crucial elements of his depression.

 Jesus  warns His disciples regarding this type of spiritual pride when they returned after venturing out in ministry and discovering that they had authority over evil  spirits in His name:

Luk 10:17,20  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name…   [He replied] Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

In Mt.5:16, quoted above, we are admonished to let our good works serve to “glorify your Father in heaven”—not your self.  There may be a fine line between being thankful that God uses us to do His wonderful liberating work, and pride or self-glorification. It is a very important line.  It makes the difference between joyful exaltation or falling into disgrace [Mt.23:12].  

 

On the other hand, when we are not doing so well, when our efforts seem fruitless and we wonder if we are making any useful contributions to the Kingdom, or even to our own family, we are tempted to fall into despair. Like Elijah in the cave, we may just want God to take us out of the world, feeling alone and useless [1Kng19]. This too issues out of ego-centered living. It is a form of faithlessness. All through the history of our faith we see that God’s children enter dark nights of the soul, feeling alone and forsaken. Our Lord Himself called out from the depths of His soul “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

But never in all the history of our Faith has God forsaken one of His own. And He will not forsake you or me. But we must be prepared to feel forsaken—without losing faith. As Paul wrote [above], we may be troubled and perplexed, but not in despair. If we expect to always be able to see how God is doing His wonderful work beyond our sight or off our radar screen, we will languish in despair.  When our work seems fruitless, God says to us as he did to Cain, “Why are you downcast? If you do well, will you not be accepted?” [Gn.4] If we persevere, God will come through in due time. He expects us to be able to faithfully endure some dark times, as we expect our children to delay their gratification. The sun always returns after the darkest of days and nights. And the longer the darkness, the more glorious the sun appears to our longing hearts.

 

Lord, please deliver us from pride, and from despair. Help us live by faith and not by sight; and may You receive glory for all that You do through us Your thankful servants.

Resurrection: The Power of It

 

 

In Christ we are not focused on power; we are focused on Love, as our Lord has commanded us.  But we find that this Love is the most powerful force in the universe, delivering us from all evil forces. After Jesus’ resurrection He told His disciples that “All power in heaven and on earth is given to me…And I am with you always, even to the end of the age” [Mt. 28:18]. And this power was to be used to teach all people about the Kingdom that He had established—a Kingdom of Love, Peace and Joy, existing in a Spirit of familihood—the Spirit of Christ Himself. In Christ we find all that we need. We discover the liberating Truth of His words and His promises. He said, “I have overcome the world” [Jn. 16:33] and in Him we also overcome the world [1Jn. 4:4].  Millions of Christians throughout two thousand years of history have discovered the truth of Christ, and the power of His Spirit to live lives characterized by faith, hope and love; and to face death with courage and hope.  And this has happened despite four periods of major persecution in the first one hundred, fifty years of its beginnings, and the fact that it was considered heretical by the religions existing at its onset. Any Christian can tell you, from a personal perspective, that a major reason for the success of Christianity is the Love that they feel emanating through Christ and His teachings. Something about Him resonates deeply within us. It's interesting [and enlightening] that even the people and religious groups that discount Christianity have great difficulty finding anything negative to say about Christ Himself. The one teaching that many seem to balk at is His statement about being “the way, the truth and the light” and that “no one comes to the Father but by me”[ Jn14:6] .  It seems that, even though they agree that His teachings are excellent, and the world would be immensely better off if we heeded them, they cannot accept Him as the doorway to the Father—or Creator. The Resurrection speaks to this, and it crowns the perfection of Christ’s mission. The Resurrection is more verifiable historically than anything that happened that long ago. There are more copies of Greek New Testaments than any other manuscript of its age; and all four Gospels and the Epistles speak of the Resurrection. Many intelligent men, including historians have studied the events surrounding the Resurrection—some with the intent of disproving it—and have come up with no viable disputation of its validity. Many unbelievers converted to the Faith in this process. Every theory of how such a story could have been falsely propagated and yet found such deep and wide acceptance by so many in such a brief span of time falls ultimately in the ash heap of unreason. Those who lived with Him—His disciples—died because they believed the truth of His resurrection, and refused to recant. The Gospel writers wrote from first-hand experience. Paul, whose writings began within twenty-five years of Christ’s crucifixion, speaks of those who were still living at the time of his writings who had witnessed the Resurrection [1Cor.15:4-6]. Anyone reading his epistle would have had the opportunity to speak to those who witnessed it, to disprove or confirm it.  Paul was putting his credibility, moreover his life, on the line regarding the Resurrection of Christ, which, I repeat, had occurred only twenty-five years earlier.  The credibility of the Resurrection empowered many early Christians to persevere through the persecutions, and, bolstered by Jesus’ commandments regarding love, emboldened them to minister to people with contagious fatal illnesses who had been abandoned by those without faith.  This courageous love attracted many to Faith in Christ, and, coupled with the joy we see in those who have been set free in Him, continues to bring many into the Kingdom.

It makes sense that a loving God would not want His children, created in His image and given foreknowledge of death, to live in fear of it.  Jesus’ teachings are so pure and selfless, His birth so unpretentious, His life so beautifully lived in the dark arena of human suffering; how can we not trust Him and those He discipled to be honest about life after death? And how perfect of our heavenly Father to confirm it all by raising Him from the dead as a testimony to the human family of His place as Savior and Friend. If you have doubts about the Resurrection, I encourage you to do an intellectually sound in-depth study of it.  Our Faith is founded upon it.

 

Lord, I sometimes have doubts about Your resurrection. But there is so much evidence, and Your teachings resonate such Truth for the human family, how could I think You or Your devoted followers would be deceptive about anything? Please help me resolve my doubts and come down firmly and finally on the peaceful and secure foundation that frees me from the fear of death. Thank You for not leaving us in the darkness about death. Today please empower me to be a joyful, peaceful servant to the glory of Your Kingdom.


“The disciples . . . were convinced of the resurrection because Jesus appeared to them in person. He invited them to touch the nail prints in His hands. He cooked breakfast for them and ate with them. He talked with them about the future of the church. He appeared to 500 of them at the same time and ascended into heaven before their very eyes. That’s why every single disciple was willing to die for the truth that Jesus had literally conquered the grave. The evidence for the resurrection both in the Biblical record and the historical accounts of the disciples’ martyrdom is so overwhelming that those who honestly examine the record usually conclude it happened just as recorded in Scripture. Easter is not a religious myth that’s been embellished over time, it’s an actual event that is the hinge of history”–Bob Russell.


"When Jesus was crucified, his followers were discouraged and depressed. So they dispersed. The Jesus movement was all but stopped in its tracks. Then, after a short period of time, we see them abandoning their occupations, regathering and committing themselves to spreading a very specific message--that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of God who died on a cross, returned to life, and was seen alive by them.
"And they were willing to spend the rest of their lives proclaiming this, without any payoff from a human point of view. They faced a life of hardship. They often went without food, slept exposed to the elements, were ridiculed, beaten, imprisoned.  And finally most of them were executed in torturus ways. For what? For good intentions? No because they were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they had seen Jesus Christ alive from the dead."
J.P. Moreland quoted by Lee Stroble, The Case for Easter, in the "Conclusion".