Another Throw Away The Filth

I have to send all of my stuff to Texas.  I came across these shoes that I've had since my feet stopped growing.  The trademark on the soles said 1990.  The shoes leaked, and the soles squeaked on tile floors. But I had put a little oil on them, and they looked okay.  But I struggled to decide whether or not to send them to Texas.  I agonized over the decision.  I couldn't let these fifteen year old shoes go. 

As I was agonizing I remembered a radio preacher saying "Throw away the filth."  He was a screamer.  "THROW AWAY THE FILTH."  At the time, I had no real idea of what he meant.  But as I was staring at those shoes, I think I started to figure it out.

I cared for those shoes because I thought they said something about me.  I thought they showed or proved that I was frugal and conservative and a good steward of my resources.  I wasn't confident enough in my myself that I was really those things, so I needed those shoes to show I was a good man, a good person.  I started to look around and I saw more and more things like that.   More things that meant something to me because I thought they said something about me that probably wasn't true.  These things are the filth that we must throw away.

And there is only one way to really throw away the filth of life and that is fully trusting Jesus Christ.

Acts 16:30-31 (New International Version)

³⁰He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
 ³¹They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."

Get Healthy

I pray, and I am told to "get healthy."

I listened to a priest discuss greediness.  He related it to the stories of people lining up at Wal-Mart on Black Friday for the proverbial $19 DVD player, and the fact that people get trampled at these sales.  He says that kind of material greediness is rampant in today's society.  But he went on to discuss the spiritual greediness that is prevalent in our society.  The fact that many people can't give all of their heart, all of their mind, all of their soul to Christ, to evangelizing, to really doing the work of the Lord.

As I've discussed before, I am not a fan of bashing selfishness.  But there is something to being too spiritually self-centered.  This idea is that we get so caught up in our own lives that we miss our greater connection to God and the surrounding world.

Here is my example:  I just got really upset about a perceived slight.  I was emotional about the fact that people "hadn't treated me right."  I didn't blame them in one sense, but I honestly felt like they had injured me due to their lack of caring.  But all I could think about was me and how "they" had made me feel.  At first, I couldn't find the faith in Christ needed to sustain my will to do His Will.  And that is what spiritual greediness really means.  It is what happens when we lose our faith and only see what is front of us.  And this loss of faith is unhealthy.  Very unhealthy.

A personal relationship with God is necessary.  It is essential.  But a personal relationship with God requires the trust to look past our own day-to-day problems and embrace the big picture that God has painted for us.  Being healthy is this embrace.  Being healthy is this wonderful balance of doing God's Will while also accepting and trusting God's Will.

Heavenly Father,
Help me to be healthy.
Show my Your Ways.
Help me to seek good things and reject bad things.
Help me to control my emotions and care no matter how uncared for I feel.
Lord, help to remember how much You care for me.
It is in Jesus' name I pray,
Amen.
      

Being A Fixer

I know this guy who "lives to serve."

Personally I like to "fix things."  I want things to work, and I believe I am the one who should make things work.  I am the one who can solve conflicts.  I don't know if "fixing things" is equivalent  to service, but deep in my heart, I want to fix things.  I want to make things right.

But the problem is I need someone or something to fix me.  I need someone to forgive me for all of those times that I broke something, for all of those times when I thought I was fixing, when I was really breaking.  I need someone to lift me from the pit of this worldly existence.  I need someone to help this brokenness inside of me to start healing.  And I need it bad, real bad.

I need the great I AM.  I need the peace of Jesus Christ.  It is one thing to serve. It is another to live a life of love and be faithful to the real fixer, to the one who served us so well on Calvary.

 

A Couple Of The Many Times That The Heavenly Father Has Reminded Me Of Who Really Is Boss

1.  I go to Kroger after church.  I buy a case of diet Big K soda.  It is rather late.  I ask my wife, "Do I go home?"  I ask my mom, "Do I go home?"  They both say "yes, go home."  I know I should go home.  The case of soda busts as I am walking up the stairs to my office.  Four or five cans burst and spill everywhere.  I make a mess by not listening to Him.

2.  I am in the office.  It is late.  Do I go home?  Do I stay?  I have an idea that I need to stay, get a few more things done before I leave.  Only the TV waits for me in my apartment.  I flip a coin.  Staying is heads.  The apartment is tails.  It comes up tails two times in a row.  I pack up.  I shut down my computer which has updates to install.  I am ready to go.  I look out the window.  It starts to pour.  The much needed rain proves that He is in control.

I have a long way to go in my life.  I have a lot of things to learn.  I have to learn to live a life of repentance.  I have to learn to live a life for Christ.  It isn't easy, but He is in control.  If I remain faithful, "walk upright," and pray, He'll lead me.

The Jefferson Bible

I've had always these conflicted thoughts about The Jefferson Bible (The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth).  It was one of those readings that pushed me to be baptized.  But the underlying "cut and paste" mentality behind the book worries me.  I have no idea exactly what Jefferson's intentions were, but Jesus' miracles have meaning too.

The other day an elder gave a lesson where he went through Matthew and just recounted the miracles.  As a believer, it was a powerful.  But as a non-believer, I don't think it would have been powerful.  I needed the cold deism of The Jefferson Bible to see what Jesus was really about, what He really had to say.

I guess it gets back to the "what should be" versus "what is."  Yes, we should take the Bible as a whole.  But many people want rationality.  The desire for rationality is a fact.  Maybe it shouldn't, but if The Jefferson Bible gets one closer to Christ, then I am hesitant to condemn it.

More Thoughts On 'What Is' Versus 'What Should Be' Or Why I Never Understood The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil"

There is a sense of fatalism in the crucifixion of Christ (Matthew 26).  It had to happen.  From a 'what is' perspective, Jesus' death is horrible travesty created by mankind.  From a God, 'what should be' perspective, it had to happen, "as it is written."  The 'what is' perspective is important here, but the 'what should be' perspective in the sense that Christ died so that we may live is more important.  Dwelling on the evilness of mankind and the fact that man could crucify God is telling and something a Christian needs to know.  But the real lesson, the 'what should be' lesson  that Christ died so we could be forgiven and Christ's death was always part of God's plan is the essence of Christianity.    

The point here is that Christianity requires Christians to be 'what should be' people.  A Christian cannot live with 'what is' attitude without compromising Christ.  He must continuously search and strive for 'what should be.'

    

Sacrifice And What Should Be

I've always had a problem with the term "sacrifice."  I don't think that sacrificing decisions are sustainable.  You can only hurt yourself for so long.  Eventually there has to be a pay-off.

From one perspective, being a Christian requires sacrifice today for eternal rewards.  Pain in this world for an eternity in heaven.  I would think this is the predominant perspective among Christians.

But another way to look at it (I think) is from a "what is?" versus "what should be?" perspective.  Sin is 'what is.'  It exists.  Sin feels good in a 'what is,' worldly sense.  Righteousness feels bad in a 'what is,' worldly sense, but it feels so good in a 'what should be' sense.  And sin feels so bad in a 'what should be' sense.  Righteousness is 'what should be.'

If we confine ourselves to thinking about things in a 'what is' sense, my sustainability question is very relevant.  I don't think you can keep telling 'what is' people that the rewards are heavenly.  In the Lord's prayer, Jesus says "...your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)."  We need to emulate God's will so earth will be more like heaven.  God's will is the ultimate 'what should be.'