No Help!

Thursday, October 5, 2023

You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world.  So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,  “Don’t handle!  Don’t taste!  Don’t touch!”?  Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.  These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline.  But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.  

Colossians 2:20-23

Every rule created by humankind has helped and hurt!  This is true in businesses, communities, families, and any other kind of human interaction, particularly in government!  Rules are mostly created to limit bad results.  On the highways, properly signaling you’re about to make a turn is intended to help the other cars refrain from plowing into your car.  If you forget to signal, it creates confusion; worse, if you signal the opposite of what you’re going to do, signaling a right turn, and then you hang a sharp a left…well, the consequences could have mortal impact.  The rule against making noise in the library is meant to make concentrating on reading easier.  However, the rule should be loudly-violated if the library is on fire!  The rule in business of the customer is always right makes for a pleasant shopping experience…except if the customer pulls out a .45 caliber pistol and demands all the money. 

Properly-observed, rules serve a purpose, but only so far.  When they become bludgeons to manipulate others, it’s time to “rule-out” the rules, go back to square-one, and be ruled by a higher purpose.  This is Paul’s meaning about the world’s rules.  When Christ sets a soul free, to be guided by the higher bar of love, legalistic rule-following never measures-up!

Legalism in the Christian often manifests itself as ugly, cold-hearted cruelty.  You can’t touch that…don’t go there…and, for Heaven’s sake do not drink THAT! These probably have their origin in some higher purpose, but eventually must be put aside if they become idols, compelling us to rely on our personal self-denial, discipline, and skills.  When we worship what we do as being acceptable to God, we have lost all sense of what God really asks of us.  And what is that, which he requires?  Check out what Scripture says:

Love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”  Joshua 22:5b

This is a Christian’s principle.  Serving God with all your heart and soul is looking beyond rules to the heart of God’s love and mercy.  This was what was wrong with the Pharisees.  In Matthew’s Gospel we find the Pharisees judging Jesus and his disciples for breaking rules; they were walking through a wheat field on a Sabbath day and were hungry.  They broke off some of the stems to nibble, and the Pharisees read them the riot act because they were breaking the Sabbath rules by “harvesting” wheat on the holy day.  Jesus told them:

But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’  Matthew 12:7

Paul educated the church folks at Rome to be this way:

Let love be genuine.  Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.  Romans 12:9

For You Today 

So the principle comes down to this…don’t be a phony, breaking rules that are sensible commands of love that resonate with the heart of God, or by trying to manipulate others with rules that give you an edge.  Instead, let love be your rule…doing the best to others, for God.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image(s) courtesy of Pixabay.com                   

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

The All-Inclusive Temple of God

 

Monday, March 8, 2021

Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?  God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.  Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.  As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”  And again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise; he knows they are worthless.”  So don’t boast about following a particular human leader.  For everything belongs to you—whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future.  Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.  1 Corinthians 3:16-23

There’s a truckload of talk about “inclusiveness” these days.  I perceive the overall sense of that word means that every person, with all their thoughts, ideas, quirks, nuances, proclivities, and baggage, is to be treated with respect.   

That’s not a bad thing, really.  It’s something like my mother taught me about manners.  Mom was pretty smart.  She was the Sunday School Superintendent at the church of my youth, and she always used a flannel-graph board with Bible pictures for the opening assembly to teach us kids about following Jesus.  One lesson was about the Golden Rule – treat others the way you want to be treated.  On the surface that seems quite doable.  You just live, and let-live, you know, don’t mess with what’s not yours, and don’t pull Peggy Broadway’s pigtails.   

The problem with that kind of thinking is that it’s largely passive, not doing anything to harm someone else…just leave them alone.  However, consider the Golden Rule from Jesus’ perspective:  treat others – that’s anything but passive; “treat” is a verb, displaying action, or, in the case of people, interaction. 

The apostle James taught the sense of being an active vs. passive Christian:

Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing.  What good does that do?     James 2:15-16

The trouble with being an active follower of Jesus is that it requires more.  Just leaving someone else alone requires nothing but a little restraint.  Okay, sometimes a lot of restraint if they have more than their share of “crazy”.  Being an active believer means being vulnerable; you must accept responsibility for meeting needs, defending the weaker ones of the human tribe, and stepping up to the plate in what your brother can’t do for himself.

This is like the difference between Cancel Culture and coming-up with helpful, real-world solutions.  Cancel culture enacted requires nothing…you don’t say this, or do that…it’s all passive.  Coming up with genuine solutions means you must speak, you must act.  To do less is to allow evil the whole stage!

Paul told the Corinthian believers to stop living in delusion.  His real-world solution for evil was to remember that everything created was given to us by God for use, enjoyment, and for helping to take care of every need.  And this means feeding our hungry sister, clothing our naked brother, and visiting our wayward cousin in jail. 

And it’s because all the stuff belongs to us, and each of us belongs to all the others of us, and all of it belongs to God.  No matter what level you prefer in that assessment, wherever you scratch at it, you will find human need, and the hand of God.  If we’re going to be an inclusive bunch on this planet, we’ve got to keep that in mind…and act that way.

For You Today

This whole concept of belonging to, or being part-of the all-inclusive temple of God is a huge concept to digest.  Living-into that is even bigger.  The good news is that you don’t have to eat that whole elephant in one bite.  Just be a little more alert this day to the people and circumstances God puts in front of you on this day.  And leave them both better than you found them.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

Inconvenient Accountability

 

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Zechariah 1:1-6

In November of the second year of King Darius’s reign, the Lord gave this message to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah and grandson of Iddo:  “I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors.  Therefore, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:  Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’  Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:  Turn from your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices.’  “Where are your ancestors now?  They and the prophets are long dead.  But everything I said through my servants the prophets happened to your ancestors, just as I said.  As a result, they repented and said, ‘We have received what we deserved from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  He has done what he said he would do.’”

source: Wikimedia

The 2006 documentary film by Davis Guggenheim entitled An Inconvenient Truth features the thoughts of former Vice President Al Gore on accountability for our actions towards global ecology (namely, global warming).  It is controversial, and served as a political hot potato between left and right sides of the aisle.  If Mr. Gore is right, we don’t have long to dwell on this planet unless we change our ways substantially…even radically.  If he is wrong, and it is simply the cyclical rhythm of the earth’s want of clearing out its lungs (a global cough, so to speak), we’ll know in a hundred (or a thousand) years.

Now, that said, this devotional thought is not about politics or global warming.  It is about a different kind of accountablity, much more cosmic and critical in nature, and much more inconvenient than global warming; this is about the judgment of God, and our incontrovertible collision course with accountability.

In speaking through the prophet, Zechariah, God reminded the people of Israel of the folly of their ancestors, who were warned about judgment coming, but blew it off as just opinions of preachers.  But Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian empire, and 50 years later God speaks to the remnant still in captivity.  The message is to look to how foolish it was to ignore God, and the key verse tells us of God’s ever-present invitation:

Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’  Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:  Turn from your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices.’  Zechariah 1:3-4

Zechariah’s voice is merely a simple repetition of what the people already knew (as is much preaching in any age…we know it, we simply fail to live it, and must be reminded constantly).  Consider what was said 500 years before when God’s Word was “rediscovered”:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

This collision course with accountability is a theme which threads its way through all of Scripture.  It is God’s repetitive message to we human toddlers who have trouble getting it, that we have a responsibility to pay attention, learn, and, most importantly,  ACT with reverence towards God, LIVING a lifestyle of worshipping God, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.  To do otherwise invites whatever Babylonian forces of today to invade and clean our clocks.  The truth is inconvenient here, but, if God did it back then, our flank is exposed here and now.  It would behoove this, or any, nation to behave, turning to God before it’s too late.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, our ways are indeed wicked, and we must turn.  We believe; help us fight off unbelief.  Our land of joy, peace, and righteousness has become a stinkhole of anger, violence, and willful unrighteousness.  Have mercy on us; help us to turn and be restored.  In the name of Christ Jesus, let it be so.

For You Today

Nobody can repent for his neighbor, father, aunt, uncle, cousin, child, or grandkids.  But we can, and must, start with personal remorse for our sins, and repent from living in those sins.  Remember, God’s not interested in how good you are compared to your neighbor, or that other guy at work; He’s only interested in how close you are to Him! 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on God’s Judgment see Judgment Day and The Lord is King