Isaiah 30:9 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; 10 who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, 11 leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel"
Smooth. Easy. Comfortable. That is the way we like it. Smooth skin, whiskey or whatever it maybe, we as Americans don't like to be frustrated, ruffled or corrected. We don't like brash truth that tells us bad news. We like and aim for a smooth life of material blessing and comfort. News flash for us all: that robs us of real learning from God and feeds our flesh. The sanctification process runs counter to that, it kills the flesh and builds our faith in the Triune God. They are battling against each other and they both can not be nurtured by the same thing. The things of this world nurtures our flesh. The things of God, like His Word and Spirit frustrate our flesh so that we will submit and praise Him. When we see and hear about the Holiness of God and his desire to draw us back to that Holiness, it clearly shows our sinful nature and our helplesness without Him. That is not something we want to hear. We aren't used to being told those things.
Isaiah is prophesying about Israel about 2,700 years ago, but His words are wise to consider today. The Israelites didn't want to hear what God was tryng to say to His people because he was trying to get them to repent from their wrongdoings and that made them uncomfortable. It made them feel like they were out of control. He was trying to share truth of their straying from Him, and His desire to heal them, but they just thought God was messing up their lavish, comfortable lifestyle. So you know what they did? They just didn't listen to what God said, and brought fourth some speakers who would speak "smooth" words to them so they could feel good about themselves.
Now without question the Gospel of Christ bring peace to the soul. But it only truly does it to the soul who has been totally brought to the end of its self and begs for a savior. As we walk deeper with Christ, we still need the truth of God's word to shape us. I meet many people who don't understand that they were born enemies of God, slaves to sin and controlled by the devil (all biblical hard truths). If we never hear these hard words and understand our natural position as children of wrath, then what are we saved from? This is the tension that the gospel relieves. Do you feel this tension in your life? Do you celebrate Christ as the reliever of this tension? This is the fuel for worship. This is the driver of Praise for Christ and we never get there without some not so "smooth" words.
So Yes appreciate the smooth words that heal, but listen eagerly to the hard words that shape us as well. Hard truths are good for the soul.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The Struggle against Gratitude
Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
The hardest work in my life is fostering true gratitude in my kids. My wife and I may be partly to blame for that as we have given them a little too much. Maybe some of you can relate. There is nothing more embarrasing as a parent than for someone to give your kid a gift and watch them accept the gift, yet not acknowledge gratitude or even ignore the giver all together. When I examine my own heart, I feel this same struggle in my relation to Christ. There seems to be this born in self centeredness that sin has embedded in us that falsely tells us that we "deserve" everything good we get, and we don't deserve all the bad things that come our way.
I have a question for you. When is the last time you stopped and in a heartfelt way spent passionate time thanking God for the privilege of knowing and communing with Him and with no other thought? That is what Paul is driving at here. God is the gift of the Gospel. Our restoration to him is the effect of the Gospel, and our tendency is to under appreciate it greatly.
In our distracted, complex world we can easily think that we need to kind of put that basic stuff like appreciating God in the rear view mirror, and move on to seemingly more important "stuff" like who are the two witnesses in Revelation, or the timing of the rapture of God's church. That train of thoughts can miss experiencing God altogether. So let's strive to enjoy God today in a new and fresh way. Let's not be like the four year old at Christmas who takes a gift given by grace and at an expense, and toddle off in a different direction to hoard the gift. Let's run to our savior in prayer with nothing but thanksgiving in our hearts. It will honor God and deeply satisfy our souls.
Please don't read this and not take time to enjoy the father's embrace.
The hardest work in my life is fostering true gratitude in my kids. My wife and I may be partly to blame for that as we have given them a little too much. Maybe some of you can relate. There is nothing more embarrasing as a parent than for someone to give your kid a gift and watch them accept the gift, yet not acknowledge gratitude or even ignore the giver all together. When I examine my own heart, I feel this same struggle in my relation to Christ. There seems to be this born in self centeredness that sin has embedded in us that falsely tells us that we "deserve" everything good we get, and we don't deserve all the bad things that come our way.
I have a question for you. When is the last time you stopped and in a heartfelt way spent passionate time thanking God for the privilege of knowing and communing with Him and with no other thought? That is what Paul is driving at here. God is the gift of the Gospel. Our restoration to him is the effect of the Gospel, and our tendency is to under appreciate it greatly.
In our distracted, complex world we can easily think that we need to kind of put that basic stuff like appreciating God in the rear view mirror, and move on to seemingly more important "stuff" like who are the two witnesses in Revelation, or the timing of the rapture of God's church. That train of thoughts can miss experiencing God altogether. So let's strive to enjoy God today in a new and fresh way. Let's not be like the four year old at Christmas who takes a gift given by grace and at an expense, and toddle off in a different direction to hoard the gift. Let's run to our savior in prayer with nothing but thanksgiving in our hearts. It will honor God and deeply satisfy our souls.
Please don't read this and not take time to enjoy the father's embrace.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Confidence
Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh
About three years ago, I was looking at an article that highlighted the success of an NFL running back. One of the pictures showed the man with his biceps flexed in the classic look at my muscles beach pose. The man arrogantly was looking and smiling at one of his huge arms as if to say "Look at how awesome I am." There was a tattoo on his left bicep that said it all. It read, "Self made". The story revealed the ups and downs of his troubled past, and his ability to over come all the odds. He was at a high point when the article was written, so everything was all smiles and positive. Since then, the "self made man" has slipped quite a bit and it is only a matter of time before he fades in to obscurity.
Paul is describing the confidence point of men and women and faith when he says we worship by the spirit and glory in Christ. He says in effect that Christians have confidence and hope in the Triune God, not themselves or anything man made. This verse cuts across virtually everything that our culture teaches. Even in some Christian circles "self confidence" is fed and nurtured. We are to be fed and nurtured certainly, but the bible isn't attempting to simply retrain our broken and bad habits. Its telling us that our habits, actions and even ourselves must be put to death and born a new by the power of the Holy Spirit. When this happens we actually lose "self confidence" and gain "Christ in us confidence" as we see our frailty and his strength.
This is quite honestly very difficult for us as Americans today. Our culture is steeped with vanity, pride and self advancement which promote and fulfill "fulfill and validate yourself by your actions". As Christians we must guard against this at all cost. We must realize that no matter what we say people around us can observe where our confidence originates and our deepest desires.
So where does your confidence lie? If faith is in full bloom in your life you will be like Paul as he states that all his positions and actions of honor in the flesh he now counts as rubbish (Philippians 3:4-8). He wants to leave confidence in anything other than Christ behind as he wants that one thing worth gaining: Christ!
So as you start the day analyze the power source of your schedule, abilities and strength. Is it Christ?
About three years ago, I was looking at an article that highlighted the success of an NFL running back. One of the pictures showed the man with his biceps flexed in the classic look at my muscles beach pose. The man arrogantly was looking and smiling at one of his huge arms as if to say "Look at how awesome I am." There was a tattoo on his left bicep that said it all. It read, "Self made". The story revealed the ups and downs of his troubled past, and his ability to over come all the odds. He was at a high point when the article was written, so everything was all smiles and positive. Since then, the "self made man" has slipped quite a bit and it is only a matter of time before he fades in to obscurity.
Paul is describing the confidence point of men and women and faith when he says we worship by the spirit and glory in Christ. He says in effect that Christians have confidence and hope in the Triune God, not themselves or anything man made. This verse cuts across virtually everything that our culture teaches. Even in some Christian circles "self confidence" is fed and nurtured. We are to be fed and nurtured certainly, but the bible isn't attempting to simply retrain our broken and bad habits. Its telling us that our habits, actions and even ourselves must be put to death and born a new by the power of the Holy Spirit. When this happens we actually lose "self confidence" and gain "Christ in us confidence" as we see our frailty and his strength.
This is quite honestly very difficult for us as Americans today. Our culture is steeped with vanity, pride and self advancement which promote and fulfill "fulfill and validate yourself by your actions". As Christians we must guard against this at all cost. We must realize that no matter what we say people around us can observe where our confidence originates and our deepest desires.
So where does your confidence lie? If faith is in full bloom in your life you will be like Paul as he states that all his positions and actions of honor in the flesh he now counts as rubbish (Philippians 3:4-8). He wants to leave confidence in anything other than Christ behind as he wants that one thing worth gaining: Christ!
So as you start the day analyze the power source of your schedule, abilities and strength. Is it Christ?
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The Constrictor Nearby
James 1:14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.15Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
A couple of months back, I read a bizarre article of a man and his pet boa constrictor. This guy had purchased the snake when it was smaller, and raised and nurtured it to nearly ten feet in length. One afternoon at a party, he was showing a friend how cool it was to have the snake wrap around his shoulders and how harmless the snake was. The snake had other ideas though and decided that the man's neck was a better target. The large constrictor unexpectedly wrapped around the guys neck quickly and shut down his ability to breathe. Soon thereafter the man was dead. What started as a "look at me" fun show and tell, ended in death.
It is awful the way this guy died. I do believe there is a major learning point in this for all of us though. You see all of us have a tendency to want to keep something dangerous close by and within reach. It might not be as obvious as a 10 foot snake, but our sin nature fights to keep itself alive, and to do that it needs nourishment. When our wrong and sinful desires lead us to obtain, look, think or taste things we absolutely know are unhealthy for us, it is as dangerous as the man growing the pet snake that would later kill him. Think about it. The snake seemed innocent and cool. It was an attraction that got the man attention from other people. Day by day, the snake got bigger and stronger and then killed the guy. James tells us that sin follows this same pattern. Desire leads to sin. If we feed the desire and sin it grows bigger and stronger until it eventually chokes and kills us.
When you stop and look around, our society is nurturing sin like few others before it. Most of the desires seem innocent and passive like greed, vanity, lust, power and relief. The choices we make and habits we form to feed those desires raise up full blown sin patterns in our life like addiction to pornography, alcohol, work, self-looks, money, drugs, sex and a host of other temporary dangers. These, like the snake, choke the life from our lungs and will eventually kill you. Just as God said to able "Sin is crouching at the door and its desire is to kill you".
As you live today do you sense the evil attacking you? Have you stopped and asked God to identify what "constrictors" you are raising in your life and house that will snuff you and your family's lives out?
We all have battles with wrong desires. The worst response is to deny that you do. The right respnse is to aks God to convict us of wrong desires and sin and to turn to Him. We need to ask Him to give us a greater desire to be filled with Him, not things that will kill us. We need to be pressed in to His identity, not death.
A couple of months back, I read a bizarre article of a man and his pet boa constrictor. This guy had purchased the snake when it was smaller, and raised and nurtured it to nearly ten feet in length. One afternoon at a party, he was showing a friend how cool it was to have the snake wrap around his shoulders and how harmless the snake was. The snake had other ideas though and decided that the man's neck was a better target. The large constrictor unexpectedly wrapped around the guys neck quickly and shut down his ability to breathe. Soon thereafter the man was dead. What started as a "look at me" fun show and tell, ended in death.
It is awful the way this guy died. I do believe there is a major learning point in this for all of us though. You see all of us have a tendency to want to keep something dangerous close by and within reach. It might not be as obvious as a 10 foot snake, but our sin nature fights to keep itself alive, and to do that it needs nourishment. When our wrong and sinful desires lead us to obtain, look, think or taste things we absolutely know are unhealthy for us, it is as dangerous as the man growing the pet snake that would later kill him. Think about it. The snake seemed innocent and cool. It was an attraction that got the man attention from other people. Day by day, the snake got bigger and stronger and then killed the guy. James tells us that sin follows this same pattern. Desire leads to sin. If we feed the desire and sin it grows bigger and stronger until it eventually chokes and kills us.
When you stop and look around, our society is nurturing sin like few others before it. Most of the desires seem innocent and passive like greed, vanity, lust, power and relief. The choices we make and habits we form to feed those desires raise up full blown sin patterns in our life like addiction to pornography, alcohol, work, self-looks, money, drugs, sex and a host of other temporary dangers. These, like the snake, choke the life from our lungs and will eventually kill you. Just as God said to able "Sin is crouching at the door and its desire is to kill you".
As you live today do you sense the evil attacking you? Have you stopped and asked God to identify what "constrictors" you are raising in your life and house that will snuff you and your family's lives out?
We all have battles with wrong desires. The worst response is to deny that you do. The right respnse is to aks God to convict us of wrong desires and sin and to turn to Him. We need to ask Him to give us a greater desire to be filled with Him, not things that will kill us. We need to be pressed in to His identity, not death.
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