You Are What You Eat …….

“As a man thinketh”…….

 We’ve heard the old adage, “you are what you eat”. This simply means that which fills you up (your content) consists mainly of all the things you’ve taken in. This ideology cuts across (pretty much) every spectrum of life that deals with “contents”. A bottle filled with water would most likely consist of water rather than oil, as an example..

 Our lives are no different from this axiom, as a people, our personalities are made up of a myriad of factors. From the nature of the cultures we grew up in to the doctrines of the religions we follow and of course our educational indoctrinations have heavily shaped us to become who we are today. Right from birth we’ve been introduced to a vast number ideologies, that through the years we’ve come to either embrace fully (sometimes fanatically) or debunk eventually. Boys find a rich vein of love in superhero admiration and girls sway towards the world of Barbie dolls and fantasy stories and as they grow into adulthood their thinking seem to evolve from these spectrums. Men seem to have a Darwinian love for most things macho and explosive whilst women tend to admire the lifestyles that are almost reminiscent of the fantasies they had growing up.

 We are who we are because of the vast array of information we have imbibed over the years. We process life from the basis of our mental shape up (the content of information within), and we deal with situations through what our minds inform us to be the most favourable outcome, we call the results, experiences. Our experiences therefore tend to enforce our stand point on any (and maybe every) area in our lives whether positive or negative. Opinions are formed on the basis of accumulated information and characters are built from our experiences.

 Therefore the root of who we are burrows into what (or in Whom) we believe in, this forms how we think and approach life.

 Before coming to the faith, the believer had been bombarded by years of experiences in one act or the other. As an example, disappointing experiences with family and friends may create a nature of distrust, and sometimes a hard boiled attitude. “If I want something done, best I do it myself”, echoes at the core of the independent mind.

 The believer would often react in manners pertinent to the very things that has filled and shaped his mind all through the years. Even though saved to spend eternity with God, he still has what Paul calls the “old man or the old nature” deep within his mindset. He needs to break free from those things that easily entangle him (Heb 12:1), he needs to find a new source feeding his thought patterns, which helps him renew his mind (Rom 12:2). His old pattern of thinking constrains him to this world, but he is raised up in Christ (Rom 6:4), therefore his trail of thought ought to be alive in Christ. Paul encourages the believer to set his thought pattern heaven bound (Phil 3:12-14), how can years of erroneous thinking be changed in the mind of the believer? He has to start thinking and practicing all things true (God is truth), all things pure (God is holy and pure), all things lovely (His hands has created the heavens and the beauties of the earth), all things excellent and worthy of praise… Philippians 4:8

 It is said that when we worry, we think too much but the truth is we think too little. We think too little of our God; we spend little time thinking about His awesomeness and majesty. The psalmist says the “blessed” man is the one who meditates on the Lord day and night out of sheer delight (Psalm 1:2). From today, I challenge myself to think and see the beauty of God through His word and in all His creations, especially in YOU. If I am what I eat, I choose to eat and be filled by the bread that brings forth life. Will you change your diet today?

Grace and Peace

Unwavering Joy ….

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. (Philippians 1:7)

 Paul was an extraordinary man. He knew how to rejoice when things went well. But, as the Lord said, even the gentiles rejoice when things go well. There’s nothing especially Christian about that. What is extraordinary about Paul is how unbelievably durable his joy was when things weren’t going well. He says:

“I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction” (2 Corinthians 7:4). Or “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake” (Colossians 1:24). Who says things like that….?!!

I often ask, how does he do it? Where does this rich vein of joy come from? The tides of life can’t seem to move it, so it means it has to be anchored onto something far more superior than the tide itself. Every time I read Paul’s letters, it is impossible not to notice his passion (the gospel), his affection (Jesus), his heart (the lost), his stripes (for Christ), his tears (the Corinthians), all of which emanate from the stream of Life (God), which shows that he had only one source for everything.

His source of joy comes from the Holy Spirit, for Paul gave up all he ever knew or relied upon in order to have Jesus as his one and only true desire (Philippians 3:8). “The fruit of the Spirit is … joy” (Galatians 5:22). “You received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1Thessalonians 1:6).

His source of presence comes from belonging to the kingdom of God. “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

His source of ownership comes through faith, that is, from believing God. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). “I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith” (Philippians 1:25).

His source of praise comes from seeing and knowing Jesus as Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). A call to get to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8), for you are blessed if you take refuge in Him.

He is focussed on his source always, which drives him towards his mission irrespective of the circumstances around him. “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

His source of achievements comes from the sanctifying effects of tribulations. “We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

If we are not yet like Paul, he calls us to be. “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). And for most of us who yearn to be like Paul and draw from the stream of Life, this is a call to earnest prayer.

May God’s grace and peace overflow in our hearts.

 

 

The Need to Heed to Authority…

 Both Peter and Paul call us to submit to governing authorities. In light of that, is revolution ever possible for a Christian, and if so, under what circumstances?

It certainly is clear that the New Testament puts an emphasis on the Christian’s responsibility to be a model of civil obedience. In Romans 13, Paul tells us that the powers that be are ordained by God. That doesn’t mean that they are sanctioned by God or that God endorses everything that civil governments do; we know better than that. But Paul is saying that it is God who brings government to pass, and we are called to submit to the rulers of the government out of respect for Christ.

Peter says that we ought to obey the civil magistrates “for the Lord’s sake” (1 Pet. 2:13-17). How is Christ glorified by my submitting to the British Government? I think the broad issue here is the ultimate biblical struggle between competing voices of authority, the principles of Satan and of God. The issue is, does the human person manifest a spirit of obedience to the law of God, or do we participate in a spirit of lawlessness? It’s interesting that the Antichrist in the New Testament is identified with the man of lawlessness.

I think that when we are called to obey the governing authorities, it’s because the New Testament sees a hierarchical structure of authority, and that the ultimate authority in heaven and earth is God. God delegates authority to his only begotten Son: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). Yet underneath the authority of the Son, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, are levels of earthly authority, such as government at its various levels down to the authority of employers over employees and parents over children.

                                    We see that ultimately, authority finds its sanction in God’s sovereignty. The principle is not difficult to understand: If I am willy-nilly and careless in my obedience to authority at the lower levels, I am therefore implicitly placing myself in a posture of disobedience to the ultimate authority that stands above and behind the earthly. Advertently, it is the law of God that we disobey. We apply this principle when we say that a child who doesn’t learn to respect his parents will have trouble respecting anything or anyone else. By my being thorough in my civil obedience, bending over backwards to obey my teachers, my employers, my governors, and my church leaders, I am honouring Christ, who is the ultimate model of authority and of obedience to the law, a distinction in complete submission.

One may ask the question, is it is ever justifiable to engage in revolt? Some Christians may say no whilst others would say yes, arguing that their civil rights are being violated. This is a crucial question at a time when Christian expression is being pushed back at every opportunity by the governing authorities with the media adding fuel to the fire.

 Our authority is sacred scripture, our measurement is the holy bible and God’s word must always be the standard we adhere to.

 Scripture does justify us when we stand to honour God’s word, as evidenced in Acts 4 when Peter and John were put in custody for preaching the gospel, and were both charged never to preach the name of Jesus (vs 18), to which they replied, “whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God” (vs 19). If asked to reject God and never profess His name, then we stand by His word and we bow to no other authority but His..

Grace and Peace

Submission … In Reverence For Christ.

A lot has been said over the years about the need for submission, the reason for submission, the manner or pattern for submission and also the importance of submission, not to forget the benefit of submission. Historically in various cultures, submission is demanded, with the men suppressing the women often into non-recognisable domestic and societal roles. This act of suppression is a manifestation of the Gen 3:16 curse. The woman fights against the man’s authority because she wants to lord it over her husband and he fights to suppress her rebellion and this brings about the conflict in a fallen relationship. That is overcome in Christ because now everyone is new and equal, whether male or female, slave or master, Jew or Gentile (Gal 3:28). The woman sees her husband as the delegated authority in her life, delegated by Christ Himself and she submits to him as head.

 The call to submit

 In Eph 5:21 the call to submit to one another is an important call, it has behind it one clear underlining factor and that is a reverence for Christ. This reverence comes from valuing His work on the cross and the life He lived for us (Matt 5:17-18, Heb 4:15), this reverence comes from the example He set by coming to serve and not be served (Mark 10:45),

“although being in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:6-7).

 Although called to submit to one another, we need to be aware of the importance of the Holy Spirit; it is in us being filled with His influence (Eph 5:18) that we find the ability needed to speak to each other in psalms and to have our hearts filled with joy when we thank God (Eph 5:19-20) and submission is not restricted to the marital home, it is insisted upon by our Lord that we render to Caesar that which is his (Luke 20:25) and that we submit to our earthly masters as if serving God himself (Col 3:22), for He has placed every authority that is in our lives, for us to submit to as long as they don’t ask us to directly go against God (1 Peter 2:13, 1 Peter 5:5).

 Humility always submits

 What then is the true basis for submission? It is a humble heart; a heart that yearns to see the desires in others fulfilled. (Read Philippians 2:1-5)

How can you yearn for the fulfilment of others? Phil 2:3, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of others.”

Humility is the soul of submission, being unselfish, having no conceit but with humility of mind, considering others as more important than us.

He never “dominates”, He “delivers”

The abuse that submission has suffered from the dawn of time is repaired in Christ and He lays the perfect model to follow. A man is no longer the head in a domineering sense. He’s the head in a delivering sense, a rescuing sense, and a protective sense. Christ’s the Saviour and that’s the model that the husband and the wife must see. The wife submits to her husband not in the sense that he’s a dictator, not in the sense that he’s domineering, not in the sense that he’s authoritarian, but in the sense that he is the protector, the provider, the preserver, the saviour. I’ll save you from want…the husband says. I’ll save you from need. I’ll save you from danger. I’ll save you from illness. I’ll save you from disaster. I’m here to be your rescuer, your protector, your preserver, your saviour. I submit to your joy, I submit to your fulfilment, I submit to all that blesses and encourages you, and she replies to him saying, I submit to doing the same and more.

May we be filled with the humility of the Lord.. Amen

Grace and Peace ..

Ribena Gospel Ministries …

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it? – Jeremiah 17:9

But we have become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; – Isaiah 64:6

What would make the Holy Spirit say through His servants that above “all” things, right at the very top is an urgent desire (desperate) for man to be wicked, whilst we stand rotten before God and anything we could possibly consider as good, when summed up is nothing but (excuse my explicitness) a woman’s mensural pad. He is trying to bring to our attention the corruption SIN brings. It is my strongest conviction that this blight of humanity is hugely underestimated and greatly ignored in evangelical churches today.

When Jesus makes such a strong unwavering comparison between a man who takes the life of another in cold blood with a man who merely looks at his neighbour in anger and conclude that they are both equally guilty and would be judged the same by God(Matthew 5:21-22), it would be wise to take it very seriously.
Surely these are incomparable examples, the taking of life in actuality is far more consequential than being angry with my neighbour.

Well, to the fallen mind, it may seem so, but fallen man doesn’t set the standard in God’s kingdom; God does. As the King, He owns the land and He sets the rules and apportions the rewards necessary for each rule set. If you visit another country, you cannot instil your own law on the land, you must adhere to the law of the land or face the consequences, unless you decide to declare war on the land. Which is what fallen man has done against God in his rebellion against His authority.

One ought to ask, why has God set standards no man can meet? He says “all have sinned and fallen short” (Rom 3:23), which means every law He laid down, has never been adhered to no matter how good intentioned man may have been; “there’s none that does good, no not one” (Rom 3:10).

How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? – Job 25:4 

If man, at the start of his life is in a losing position before God, how then can he be deemed pure? That is the question…

In comes the gospel, which says God took our losing position and gave all who would believe in Him, a new position, a winning position. In this winning position there are habits to be cultivated whilst old habits are to be denounced (Col 3, Eph 4, Rom 6). He therefore meets the standards we are unable to meet and pays the price we are unable to pay (Rom 3:26).

More and more professing “Christians” are continually living like they did before accepting Christ.

 

         A man abandons his family so he can run away with his mistress, a father of three engages in sexual relations with a church member and they are both devoted workers in church,  little kids listening to the most obscene lyrics on their ipods during service, and a man, so consumed with lust decides to abuse the purity of his non consenting girlfriend and destroy her trust in men, almost destroying her faith in God. Are these people really saved? (I’m thinking of Rom 8:7-8)

 

Our churches today are suffering and are continually being filled with souls who have no clue of what the gospel is. Christianity today is spitting on the cross of Christ, and the millions who died so you and I can freely praise God for saving us are being sneered at everyday with what I call “ribena gospel ministries” who fill the hearts of men with false ridiculous hopes.  

 

Why, oh why, do we have “Christians” doing these things? A lack of understanding as to the corruption of sin, a lack of fear as to who God is and a complete disdain to the price Christ paid at Calvary. 

 

A person who constantly puts diesel in a petrol car, will never get the car to move. Christians who constantly feed on the health and wealth ministries will never appreciate the value of Christ , He will only ever be a great provider and a wonderful healer, but He is so much more. The good news is “blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin” (Rom 4:8)…. This is the gospel, because it not only frees man, it TRANSFORMS man… Pursue Holiness

 

Grace and Peace

 

 

 

 

 

The Crushed Conscience

Our precious Father in His awesome wonder has created within man, many beautiful things to aide us daily. He gave us eyes to see and marvel at the beauty of His creation, ears to hear a loved one say “I am here for you, no matter the circumstance”, arms to embrace those who need it dearly plus taste buds to enjoy some of life’s loveliest cuisines, and we have pain, pain to warn us when something is wrong within our bodies. Out of the many blessings God has granted us, pain is probably one we don’t thank Him for.

The ability to feel pain is truly a remarkable one, just imagine chopping onions on a chopping board and you accidentally chop off the tip of your finger, without pain you could be 3 fingers down before you notice the blood and realise the damage that has been done. Every time we experience pain, our body is sending out an alarm that something is wrong and needs to be attended to. The same ideology is built into nature and mankind has found it useful to adopt the idea into its technology. Our computers have virus warning alarms, our cars have parking sensors and even our military defenses have powerful warning signals in the form of radar that detect threats from long distances.
                       To show the importance of warning signals, in 1984, Avianca Airlines, a Spanish airliner, tragically crashed into a mountain instantly killing all lives on board. When investigators found the black box to determine what happened, they discovered the unexpected. Pull up! Pull up!! Pull up!!! , the automated warning system yelled repeatedly, to which the captain yells back “Shut up Gringo!!” and flips the switch. He ignored the warning and paid for it with his life and all on board merely seconds later.

It is apparent that warning signals play a key role in our lives, the human body needs it desperately, nature has it in its core and we’ve adopted it into our everyday use. The role pain plays to the human body is paralleled in the role “Conscience” plays to the human soul.

What we have in this present age is a mortification of Man’s conscience. The addiction to feed our hearts with so much filth and ignore every warning signal our conscience screams out is what is fueling the degradation we see all around us. Our conscience was gifted to us to inform us if something is right or wrong with our spiritual life (Romans 2:14-15).

 The conscience in the world today is seriously suffering from bad information and a total shift from the moral code written in the heart of man (Romans 2) and divinely inspired into the scriptures. The culture is so engulfed in the flames of its lust that the fire is burning into the church, believers no longer see or value the importance of informing their conscience with truth anymore. Their consciences are ill informed, they lack the desire to fill their hearts with the truths that would warn them against the wolf pack sitting outside their doorsteps, some would even adopt the world’s notion that all truth is relevant whilst ignoring that Jesus is the “absolute” truth that sets man free(John 8:32).
                  Like the Avianca Captain, the world has flipped the warning switch in their hearts off. Imagine if the radar system on our planes were programmed to say “increase speed! increase speed!! when approaching danger, that is exactly what is happening to our consciences every time we ignore its warning signals and feed it with false or no information. 

The conscience not only has to be properly informed like the radar but it has to be made very sensitive so it relays the right message at the right time. We need to carefully divide the word of truth into our hearts and carefully obey its every warning when we are about to violate a rule. Like pain, the conscience is not to be ignored but acted upon else things start falling apart.

Give your conscience a chance to be the asset God has designed it to be….. Don’t starve and ignore, feed it with TRUTH!!!.

Grace and Peace ….

Teach Us To Do Your Will……..

^{Psalm 143:10} Teach me to do your will, 
   for you are my God! …..

New Year, New Joys, New Goals. Same Jesus

Every time we start a new year, we pause and readjust our plans, sometimes making new ones or improving on old ones. Some call them “new year resolutions”, others call it whatever they want, but the big idea is, it is a “new beginning”.

One thing must be clear in the heart of every believer, and this must be the believer’s priority. Living to the glory of God, which only comes from doing His will. Being a Christian is simply living a life controlled by God, it is in this control that His will is made manifest “all” the time.

We’ve always asked the question, “what is the will of God for my life”? How do I know God’s will regarding the career to follow or the spouse to choose or the house to buy? We truly want to do God’s will but we are confused and don’t know what His will is, especially as a lot of everyday decisions are not explicitly written in scripture. This challenge has plagued the mind of many Christians, both old and new and it is my strongest belief that before one can know the will of God in things that are not revealed (explicitly) in scripture, one needs to first know His will on things revealed in scripture and obediently adhere to them before one can say they desire to know His will in other areas of life.

His will is not elusive or mystical, as many of them are clearly written out in scripture. I want to choose a few basic ones from the pages of the Holy Bible as a means to kick start our goal making in this new year.

Salvation

It is God’s will that all men be saved (1 Tim 2:4). This is where His will begins, for the motion was set before time to have  Christ come and live the life man was meant to live and pay the price man ought to pay for his transgressions. It is the John 3:16 act from God through Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we are looking for the will of God apart (outside of) from salvation, we have no basis on which to look for because salvation is needed to enter into the family of God.

Spirit Filled

In Ephesians 5:17-18, Paul instructs us not to be unwise as it is imperative that we “understand” what the will of God is (vs 17). He then goes on to list all the things God desires from verses 18-28. It is important to note that he starts by saying not to lose our senses but to fill them up with the Holy Spirit in verse 18. The simplest most practical meaning of being Spirit filled is to live a life in which the word of Christ dwells in us richly (Col 3:16). It is letting our selfish nature decrease while the selfless nature of the Holy Spirit increases (John 3:30), as Christ dominates our minds richly, His presence becomes evident which in turn allows the Spirit of God to control us completely. We become the new man in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4.

Sanctified

Sanctification is simply the process of becoming more like Christ everyday, the pursuit of holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification,”……. Paul gives us a quick list from verses 3-9 what the will of God is regarding our sanctification (our growth towards holiness).

1. Flee from “pornea”, this word translated as fornication means “any” kind of sexual sin in its original text. (God help us all).. Vs 3

2. Posses his vessel in sanctification and honour. This is developing and having “Self Control” ( 1 Cor 9:27, 2 Pet 1:6)…. Vs 4

3. Not to lust in evil desire as the gentiles (unbelievers) would. We are new in Christ, our desires must be what He desires…. Vs 5

4. Don’t defraud your brethren in “any” matter. This includes mind games to get what you want at the expense of others…. Vs 6

Saying Thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. It is God’s will that we develop a heart of gratitude and this verse speaks a great deal for itself. We’ve just completed 2011 and find ourselves in 2012 only by the grace of God for many unfortunately this didn’t crossover with us, for this alone, we ought to give thanks.

There are many other things God wills for us in scripture, to be submissive to every authority is an example (1 Peter 2:13), as long as they don’t ask us to directly disobey God’s word. Also, God’s will, will sometimes require us to “Suffer” for His name’s sake (1 Peter 3:17-19

One may say, how does all this answer the question of God’s will towards a career path or a spouse? I believe strongly that the desire to do God’s revealed will in scripture comes from a place of delight and a heart that pursues holiness, and obedience is a home for God to rest in (Isaiah 66:1-2). It is this delight that the Psalmist speaks of in Psalm 37:4, for us to “delight in the Lord and He would grant us the desires of our hearts”. When the Holy Spirit controls us and cleans our heart for God to come and rest in, the desires we start to have are not generated by us but are generated by God and He grants us what is best for us. So His choice becomes our choice, His will becomes our will, His path becomes our path….

In 2012, let one thing dominate your minds and that is doing the perfect will of God for when Christ was living amongst us, His only desire was to do the will of His Father…. Happy New Year

God’s Grace and Peace be with you all
..

Continue In The Faith…..

… continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard….. Colossians 1:23

We have come to that time of the year where we reflect on the last 12 months, we look at the highs and the lows, we smile at the achievements and frown at the shortcomings. We make the necessary decisions to improve on our successes and we put in place the preventive measures from falling short in (at least) the same areas in the year(s) ahead.

It is in this reflective moment that one thing became apparent to me, and that is “the need and importance of continuity”. I am very guilty when it comes to pausing for long periods or sometimes stopping abruptly a journey which I begun. Unfortunately this is common amongst many of us, we pause when we ought to pick up the pace and we stop when we ought to ask for a helping hand along the way. 

Continuity!

I’ve been reading Colossians everyday since the start of December, and everyday something seems to jump out of the page to grasp my attention. It is from chapter one that I want to draw out the need and importance for continuity. In chapter 3, Paul gives us loads of qualities the “new man” in Christ ought to imbibe but before he gets there he shares something critical for every believer to adhere to. In verses 20-22 of chapter 1, Paul expresses how we were the enemies of God and wanted nothing to do with Him, but in spite of the hate we had, the love of Christ brought us reconciliation and from the core of that love, He is making us holy so that we may be presented blameless before God. 

                       Paul then says in verse 23, four important words (in my opinion); he says “continue in the faith”. The word itself needs little explanation; it means to persist or to carry on even when there is an interruption. For us as believers, continuity is a must; it is a command as well as an exhortation. We cannot and must not, under any circumstances give up, especially in the faith. I am reminded of a promise in Philippians which says “that which God has started, He will see it through till the end” (Phil 1:6), that is a measure of what continuity does, it works all the way till the end.

One thing is certain on any long journey, the tendency to be weary. Each journey has its own challenges; it is the desire to reach the end that compels us to continue ahead. In our faith walk, we are promised so many blessings that will come in a hundred fold, even the blessing of persecution (Mark 10:30). It is that spirit of continuity even through intense persecution that has brought us the gospel today, it is that hunger and desire that made Paul cry out to the churches in Galatia that “he is in pains of childbirth till he sees Christ manifest in their lives” (Gal 4:19). There are loads of examples spread across scripture that lays emphasis on the importance and the need to push forward always even when the highest mountain lies ahead, and there also examples of those who gave up and sadly met their reward.

 As we press into this New Year, this new chapter, let us continue in our pursuit of holiness and Christ-likeness. Let us press forward no matter the resistance (for they will come), let us commit every single plan to the Lord for guidance and fulfilment, let us lay aside every encumbrance (Heb 12:1) in order to achieve every goal we’ve set, let’s start from today to decide in our hearts and through the power of the Holy Spirit to never give up and to continue diligently. Whatever the goal let us continue all the way to the end and any goal that is founded right at the feet of the Lord is sure to be a goal that will bear fruits (first things first).

God’s grace and peace be with you all through 2012 …….

 

The Forgetful Hearer…..

But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience). (James 1:25 AMP)

Being idle, in my opinion is a sin, a sin of waste and fruitlessness. How many times have we found ourselves getting up from the bed of habitual sin, looking back at the filth we just laid with and feel rotten all over?! We ask the questions, why? How could I? How do I break free? We are stricken with guilt and despair and feel oh so shameful, how can a Christian do what I just did? In despair, we ask ourselves. 

           What bugs me the most is the fact that we know these warnings and teachings from scripture so well, our leaders, pastors, and mentors have preached on these issues over and over again and if suddenly woken from our sleep, we could quote them easily. So why at the call of most temptations do we succumb to its lures? “Forgetfulness”

We forget the truth that we hear and read through the pages of scripture everyday, we forget who our Father is and the home that we come from, we forget our eternal inheritance. We unfortunately are like the seed which fall on the wayside, for the birds to come and devour. We have little or no depth; we are not like the tree that is planted by the stream which bears great fruit (Ps 1:3). The lack of a deep root causes us to lose grip, all it takes a little breeze and we find ourselves being blown away into nothingness. 

So why do we forget all the truths we learn everyday? I strongly believe it is a slothful attitude towards the truth. Who learns how to drive a car simply by reading a manual or following an Instructor? You learn by application, you apply the instructions from the manual and the Instructor whilst seated in the car, and the more practice you get, the more accustomed you become to the art of driving. You rarely forget how to change gears when you drive everyday; this is analogous to our faith walk. 

 An insightful commentary on James 1:25 says below…

“ But whoso looketh – (παρακύψας parakupsas). This word means, to stoop down near by anything; to bend forward near, so as to look at anything more closely. The idea here is that of a close and attentive, intense and accurate observation of the law that sets us free. The object is to show that a man should attentively look into, and continue in the law of liberty, and not do as one who went away and forgot how he looked. The emphasis is not in the manner of looking, it is on the duty of continuing or persevering in the observance of the law.

                               ……………  And continueth therein – He must not merely look at the law, or see what he is by comparing himself with its requirements, but he must yield steady obedience to it. “ - (Barnes’ notes to the bible)
 

The importance of looking (at the word of truth) rigorously cannot be emphasised enough, I believe St. James puts it best in context…….

“For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it  and  being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;  For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.” (James 1:23, 24 AMP)

 How chaotic would it be if we forgot our identity? We are sons and heirs of God (Rom 8:17) and it is a tragedy for us to forget who we are and to whom we belong. We must bring our minds and body under our control (1 Cor 9:27), 1st by feeding it with truth (doctrine) and then starving it from those things that take us back to the bed of filth…..

We are children of the Holy Kingdom; let us take care to remember it every moment, for in our careful application of obedience, we are promised to be blessed (James 1:25) and God guarantees His integrity every time.

 

Scriptural References – John 13:17, Romans 2:13, 1 Peter 2:16

Grace and Peace……….

 

The Blight Of Humanity…….

What is the blight of humanity?

It all started in the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sadly gave up all the beauties around them for an ugly and decaying new world. Created to enjoy a special, unimaginable relationship, mankind would turn its back from the Light, in pursuit of darkness. Before man was made, for five glorious days, God was shaping the world with intent, and in magnificent beauty. Everything He created was captured in the highest level of splendour, and at the end of each day, like an artist, He would take a step back and say “it is all good”.

By the sixth day, everything was beautifully in place for Man to come in and experience God’s loving nature. After lovingly crafting both Adam and Eve, He gave them the authority to have dominion over the land. Man had it all, from enjoying the delight and beauty in God’s creation to savouring the immeasurable, unimaginable and unspeakable elegance that God was and still is.

                           God created everything to bring out the highest and most purest detail of beauty until the ugly, dark, vile, rotten, and corruptible sin came in to deform and decay it all and cause a foul unbearable stench and sight before God.

Sin’s unrelenting grip on this world, has turned everyone into its slave, to do whatever pleases it. Its control fans the flame that fuels pain and disdain in the hearts of  men. Thomas Watson, the old Puritan once quoted that “sin has turned beauty into deformity and the wicked takes more care to have his sin covered than cured”.

                Its influence desolates, decays, and destroys human relationships, marring the beautiful work God did in those 6 days with its ugliness. One look at the world today and we are faced with its rottenness, surely an artist wouldn’t step back and say “it is all good”.

What a degenerative power sin has, it has caused diseases, illnesses, ongoing disasters, it has ruined homes, broken marriages, shattered friendships, it is the root of every argument and it is the reason behind every selfish thought and act, it has it claws burrowed deep in every evil word. In fact every good deed not done, every good thought unthought and every good word unsaid must be attributed to sin.

So much can be said of the cause of mankind’s disfigurement but I’ll just borrow a few words from an old saint Thomas Guthrie, who had some provocative words to say about sin.

                    ”Who is the painted temptress that steals our virtue? Who is the murderess that destroys our life? Who is the sorceress that first deceives and then damn our souls? Who breaks the hearts of parents? Who lights the torch of war? What fair siren is this who seated on a rock by a deadly pool smiles to deceive, sings to lure, kisses to betray and flings her arm round our neck to leap us into perdition? Who turns the soft and gentlest hearts into stone? SIN!!!

On the cross the divine Physician cured this disease, He shed His light on this dark blight and gave us freedom. A payment, even eternal punishment can never fully pay, the blood of the most pure and most loving Lamb fully paid all of our debts (Col 2:14). We celebrate Christmas because of the birth of our Saviour, who redeemed us from a dark ugly tyrant. Hallelujah!!!

Grace and Peace..