Glory choices

John 12:43 For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Being in Delhi has intensified my ability to see clearly the things in my life that could be dangerous to my walk. In our sin nature, we all have a tendency to be just like the Jewish authorities who were more concerned with the here and now than they were with the fact that the Son of God,Jesus, is in their presence and wants their soul to be freed from the empty stuff of this world.

What controls us is important - is it our desire to see the glory of God spread or are we contolled by a false and temporary comfort that this world offers?

India

If you want to see posts that are linked to our trip to New Delhi, India go to www.delhisaltandlight.blogspot.com

Isaiah 64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garmet. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Beauty and the Beast

Psalm 103:8 “The Lord is Merciful and Gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”

Ephesians 2:4 But God, Being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us (Jesus)


On the plane ride to Delhi, I encountered two distinctly different sites within minutes of each other that I will never forget. One was totally majestic. It was the snow covered Mountains North of I think Hungary and somewhere between Paris and Tehran. I guess I will have to get the map out and try to pin point it when I get a minute. It was honestly one of the most awe inspiring sites I have ever seen. To see the magnificent height and might of God’s work beautifully covered with the brilliant, pure-white snow pointed me to my Savior. He is Mighty and rises above all in His sovereign justice, but He is brilliantly pure and gentle in His Love. It will not be difficult to remember the majesty of that view.

Only moments later I saw another view that will not be soon forgotten either. Mother Nature called, so I got up and walked to the bathroom. I started to open the bathroom door as it said vacant, and when I pulled the door back it revealed a frozen in the headlights, 70 year old French woman doing her thing. She stared at me in shock. I quickly shut the door, in more shock, and did my best to quickly move to another part of the plane in search of relief. I do no think I will forget that site for a while either. It was just kind of gruesome, if I had to put an adjective on it.

Upon further reflection, I think that is what my life looks like before God. One minute He is smiling and thinking, “That old boy finally got something right” as he sees Jesus in me, harvesting fruit for His kingdom. The next minute my flesh steals the show and he sees the gruesome ugliness of Chad without Christ. His mercy and patience amaze me freshly every day.

We are on an Air France flight and so thank you is expressed “Mercee”. In my southern drawl it comes out more like “mercy”. Thank you father for your mercy! I need to say that more, with more conviction every day.

Disobedient Belief?

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God remains on him.

My three year old, Eli, skipped the terrible twos but is doing his best to make up for that lost opportunity as a three year old. Drama, tears and a whole lot of disobedience describe his way of life. He is pereceptive though, and just before he sends us completely over the edge he looks up with big brown eyes and says "I'm sorry". He has also learned that some other phrases like "momma your pretty" and "I love you" are useful tools for disciplinary adversion. He is only three, and is a great kid, but he needs discipline. Often when correcting Him, I use Jesus's words of John 14:15 "if you love me you will obey me" (paraphrased). It is quite true when you think it through. If Eli really loves us, he will grow in his obedience to us as he understands our desire for his own good. No matter what his words will say, as the years pass, Eli's true love for us will be shown towards us in the way he obeys us and ultimately God.

The hard truth for me is that for most of my life my relationship with God pretty much mirrored Eli's actions as a three year old. I would give God the lip service and the random,yet self serving, church attendance and prayers, BUT I had no intentions of submitting to him in obedience. I really had a lot of "bigger fish to fry". Life seemed to offer so many fun and exciting things, so about the last thing on my mind was getting to really know Jesus and striving for what I now know is a Joyful obedience.

The big question is when I was in that state of lip service and no care for obedience was a I saved or lost? John 3:36 makes that clear as a bell - Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God remains on him. Jesus is clearly spelling out that an intellectual ascent of Him, without obedience which marks allegiance to Him, is cold, dark and empty. He echoes this four more times in John 14 to make sure we don't miss this huge point.

I look around at the church in America, and it truly grieves me. We have protestant religions accomodating blatant sin habits in the name of "human compassion". There are many denominations that disregard the bible and its authority over us. The vast majority of church goers rarely read the word of God. if we are unwilling to get to know God, and obey Him, Jesus clearly states that we will not see life and the wrath of God is still on us. No matter what we say....

So what are the words of Jesus (this is not an exhasutive list):

>To Love your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to Love your neighbor as yourself
>To take up our cross and to deny ourselves (matt 22:37-40)
>To make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18-20)
>Give to the needy and do it in secret (Matt 6:1-4)
> when you fast, do it secretly (Matt 6:16-18)
>Don't be anxious about life (Matt 6:25)
>Be a reconciler - do not promote strife but Love (Matt 5:21-26)
>enter through the narrow gate that leads to life -there are few who find it (Matt 7:13-14)
>Pray with a passion of love towards God, and do not "grand stand" with your prayers to be seen by other people (Matt6:5)
>Jesus's life model shows us a focus on fulfilling the will of God, we find that in the bible, he calls us to do the same (Matt 5:17-20)
>Be humble
>repent of and hate your sins
>Do not judge others(His word has done that already- we just communicate it)

So you can see that Jesus has many things to say about obedience. The big question is are we obeying His words, or are we just giving Him lip service?

Sodom-America?

Ezekiel 16:49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.

I believe that most of us have heard of Sodom. If you are like me, you have always viewed that city as a nasty disgusting stench, far nastier than any place around. I had always pictured it as a combination of the worst traits of Vegas, New Orleans and San Francisco. Growing up I was thankful that there were no places like that around, and I was glad that those bad people got what they deserved!

Ezekiel 16 will make you think that through that erroneous theology a couple of hundred times. What was their wickedness? They were rich and proud and did not share with the poor and needy. They did abominations before God as well. I wish that I was dreaming as I type this, but does that not perfectly describe America in 2010? What do we deserve? Honestly look around and let it soak in. Our culture has little to no regard for God. Our greed and pride have reached a new level, as we invent new ways to take advantage of others so that we can have more stuff. Lustfulness,Homosexuality, Drunkenness, Pornography and Drug Addiction (even if it is prescribed) have firmly taken the place of God as fulfiller, sustainer and healer among many Americans. No matter what anyone will tell you, those are blatant and gross sins against God that separate many people from Him and His love.

Take it a step closer and ask the question: does Ezekiel 16:49-50 describe me? Am I prideful? Do I use my blessings to aid the needy or do I hoard them for myself?

These are hard questions but tough ones we must ask ourselves. I am sure there were some folks in Sodom the day it was destroyed wishing they could get a re-do!

So what are we to do? How about listen to God: Micah 6:8 " He has told you oh man what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk Humbly for your God."

Do you believe the truth of Proverbs 21:13? " Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor, will call out and not be answered".

Again, we must all come clean before a Mighty God, calling on Jesus to regenerate and sanctify our hearts by faith is the only way to flea from Sodom or Sodom-America.

3rd Rate Romance

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Often you can learn a a lot about yourself and hard truths about sin from secular music. One of my oldy but goodie favorites is "third rate romance", by the Amazing Rhythm Aces and covered later by Sammy Kershaw. The song is about a scandalous affair of two people that are looking only for one thing. A quick fix of their version of love- sex in a hotel fueled by booze.

Sittin' in a tiny table in a ritzy restaurant
She was starin' at her coffee cup
He was tryin' to keep his courage up
By applyin' booze

And talk was small when they talked at all
They both knew what they wanted
There was no need to talk about it
They were old enough to scope it out
And keep it loose

She said, "You don't look like my type
But I guess you'll do"
Third rate romance
Low rent rendezvous
And he said, "I'll even tell you that I love you
If you want me to"
Third rate romance
Low rent rendezvous

If you have heard the song before, you are probably humming and singing along. Its catchy. It also is on to a bigger truth in us. Many of us, including myself, have confused love with temporary fulfillment of our desires of the things of this world and while that includes sex, it is certainly not limited to it. Perhaps what is more alarming is that for thirty years, the heart of this song perfectly describes my relationship with Christ. The scariest part is I thought I was a Christian, and I wasn't. i was just trying to use Christ to fulfill my temporary desires.

Look at the words that describe a "3rd rate romance, low rent rendezvous". Talk was small, when they talked at all, they both knew what they wanted. That is a perfect description of my then so-called prayer life. Rare, and when it happened, it was me asking for stuff from Him, not praising Him. I knew what I wanted, and so did HE! In my eyes there was no need to talk further, I had it all in control and life was going according to my plan (not His). Why he did not strike me down can only be called Grace!

Perhaps the ugliest truth that describes a person who is religiously lost is "Jesus, you don't look like my type, but I guess you'll do. I will even tell you that I love you, if you want me to". Oh how I blasphemed His pure love with half hearted words that some one had told me to say. I truly cringe at Jesus's Grace and mercy being met with my invitation of a low rent rendezvous. I wanted quick fixes in a cheap hotel. He wants eternal love that controls me from the inside of my soul outward , and Praise God -He has it now.

That is exactly what Paul says in the above verses. Christ's love controls us. Controls us. We are captivated by Him not in some cheap, boozed up, lustful way, but in a scandalous Love affair that is Holy and never ends. The reason for His control over us is simple. He is love. He defined love. His work on the Cross and rising form the grave is the only reason we know what Love truly means. His Love gives us life. It is Life.

So how do we know if we are in love, or just in some 3rd rate romance with Christ? Check out verse 15: and he died for all, that those that live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised! His work is done and only offers a pure and Holy love. We can either accept that and live for Him, turn from our desires, and understand the beauty that it is to be controlled by Christ, or we can pretend we are in love and settle for a 3rd rate romance that leads us to death.

Where are you in this picture? Is your talk with Christ small? Is it at all? Have you told Him "You don't look like my type but I GUESS you will do? What about the gut wrencher, "I'll even tell you that I love you, if you want me to".

2 Corinthians 3:4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but a our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

One day leading a small group of first through fifth graders,our study of God's word focused on unreached people groups. Using scripture as our guide, we discussed God's desire to make His name known throughout the ends of the Earth, and what that meant for us as followers of Christ. We asked some kids to pray and they did. The last prayer came from a little girl who prayed, "God make them normal, like us". I was paralyzed and shocked at what I had just heard. The little girl's words gave away her souls view of the world. I think what captivated me was a larger truth. I believe her spoken words communicate the true sentiment of the vast majority of Church goers in America today. Even though we might not say that so clearly and out loud, it certainly was my world view for most of my life.

Now lets think about the statement, "If we can get them to be normal, like us, they will be better off", for a moment. Have you stopped and looked around America today? I want to say loudly that I praise God for His mercy on our country, and I love being American as much as anyone, but let's be honest and think it through. We are a culture marinating in debt, pills, lust, greed,pride, power, vanity and sensuality. If we take all of that and export that to other places, what good will that do anyone?

Paul's Heart is clear in the verses above, peel back all of the Paul that is in him and Jesus at the core is what is worth sharing. Jesus is who empowers His children for His glory, and because of this we can have great confidence in God's work. We must assume that the opposite is true as well. That would mean all that we do powered by our strengths and talents outside intimate communion with God, is as Paul says "insufficient".

A question that I wrestle with all of the time in my life is this: "Chad, in whose strength are you walking in?" If it is Christ's then I can, like Paul, have bold assurance of the full competency of Christ that life will radiate vividly from me. If it is my own strength, well then, I will radiate an insuffient love that is far from complete. I must admit this is a struggle. The thought is simple, but the application is the battle of the ages for all mankind.

So what about you? Whose strength do you you walk? If you do ministry work, do you want people to be more like you, or Christ in you?