Separating Morality

With all the pending issues pressed against Christians today, it is difficult at best to post a position.  It is one thing to tolerate one behavior or lifestyle and quite another to condone it. The powers to be insist we condone various behaviors even though our conscience through the church, through the Bible teachers against it.

At one time, Joshua came up against a similar issue. Thereafter he stated, Joshua 24:15

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

And friends, that is where it is at.  Either we love you, bring ourselves into servitude or not.  Nor can we apologize for the world.  It is one thing to love people, and detest behavior and another to advocate it and endorse it.

In short, the people we should love.  However, we should teach against some behaviors. This means clearly that we are caught in the middle.  There is really no neutral ground.

No, I am not saying to preach against people.  I am saying to speak on behalf or for the Lord and his teachings.

You may not like it, but this requires a separation.  Of course, no one is for violence or hatred and still has love in his heart.  Yet, greater love requires one to speak the truth, the same as when our Lord, the Christ proclaimed himself.  There is but one truth and that is Christ and he is truth because of love.

Thus, that is where we should point.  We should guide others into the haven of eternity through Christ as he preach via love.

Too, the value of love required an obedience from us to him and to others.  In this way, we separate morality.  In the end there should be a difference from one as opposed to another.  This is in word and in deed.

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Your Problem Is

Hang around any American long enough and they are going to tell you what your problem is.  You may not even have a problem.  That makes no difference, they are going to straighten you out and tell it to you anyway.

As Westerners, we are obsessed with problems.  All day long, we solve problems and are in the habit as well as generating them.

All of this comes down hard on people, as problematic as we are.

Delve into the self-help books, the thousands of them that one way or another will straighten you out.  You are either too fat, too cocky, too timid, too skinny, too dumb, lack confidence, ugly, out of shape, too old, too young, too naïve; it matters not, you are too something.

Even after reading all of this, you should be tired of problems by now and get down into living despite the problems.  Clearly, problems are nothing more than excuses.  We explain our excuse as a problem:  we can’t sing, paint, walk, run, swim, and bowl, public speak, do math, basketball or anything else that appears of our convenient agendas of can’ts. In short, we focus on our personality as nothing more than a PROBLEM.

Folks, we must get beyond that. Our mates, our spouses our kids are NOT problems. Our neighbors are not mere problems either to be solved. They are to be loved. We are all to be loved in like manner.

The moral is not to go around selling yourself short, getting caught up lacking by the definitions of this world. God says you are important, so important he sent his only son, Jesus for our salvation at the cross.

Problem Solved.

Prior to Jesus, yes, we were a problem. Prior to that there was no hope, but in Christ there is hope for all.

In this situation since there is no longer a problem, there is a solution and the solution is belief in God’s son, the Christ.

Truthfully, no matter how bad you think you are:  no matter how worthless you might believe you to be.  You are far greater among the kingdom of God.

Refuse all the problems this world throws at you and accept the goodness of God’s love.  Come to be known no longer as a problem, but as a member of God’s family.  With Jesus, there are no longer any  problems.

 

People Are Not Who We Want Them To Be

A common belief among most of us is that people can change for the bad overnight, but we almost never believe it when people say they have changed for the good. For all the other people, we might point out their positive attributes but we issue our caveats: “They would be great, if only such and such were to change…”  We can supply tons of changes people should make and no matter how we add it up, people come up short on our character list.

The truth of it is that we are all human and possess character flaws as such and no matter how much we change, will never be perfect. This is an absolute truism.  As much as we will or will someone to change, they in the end will disappoint because they have not reached that plateau of perfection we desire.

The same is true for ourselves.  We are not who we want to be and probably never will attain the maturation desired.

None of this means we are not good enough for if we are stained in the eyes of people, how much more so in the eyes of God.

Yet, the scriptures explain that we were loved while we were still yet sinners. Accordingly, we will continue to be sinners after the love from our Lord. The difference being that we fall under grace for salvation.

When it comes to our dynamics with one on one people, we should first accept them for who they are.  Sure, there might be stacks of dirt on that person, but our job as a Christian is to recognize their value relative to the eyes of God.  No, they will never be perfect.  More than likely they will never be who we want them to be, but we are to love all the same. In some ways, we can’t be the sum total of that perfect person simply because we are inadequate, not equipped to do it.  We are to strive unto perfection and attempt these virtues with all our hearts, but in the end, none of us will ever be, in this lifetime, the total person they should be.  Because of this, our eyes should forever be focused on Christ.

When Everything Fails

More often than not, our faith, our hopes and prayers fall through. Most all Christians profess to love God and his Son, the Christ, yet we discover a wide separation from our words and reality.

I believe at least part of this separation, this dissonance exists because the very nature of God is spirit, and by virtue of our creature, we are flesh. Hence, there is a massive misunderstanding among us about what the cosmos really is.  Naturally, we stab at the answers and memorize various scriptures and often pretend to know all sorts of things.

But, when our mother dies right there before us, when our children suffer from accidents or disease, or when loved ones are removed from us here on earth, we are found lacking and lacking big time.

The truth is:  we have no earthly idea why some things happen the way they do. Yes, we surmise that the car accident that fell upon us might not really be an accident, but when widespread carnage occurs, we are left empty handed.

Because of our ignorance, then we are left only with faith to tie us over to better times.  It is during those times when we must believe in the words of a man who walked on the face of the earth about 2,000 years ago.  We must believe he loves us and that God Almighty is in charge of this universe, this earth.  And here is where we experience still another separation.

That is usually when we separate our self from God.  For when our faith fails totally somehow or another, we generally blame it on God. Conversely, I attest, these are those times when we should seek forgiveness, permitting God to be the judge over his creation.  At this moment, if we place our hand into His and accept His word on faith, we realize we have come upon the throne of salvation itself.

How easily do we bleed?

When people curse or abuse you, are you easily offended? They refused Jesus, why wouldn’t they offend you?

When in Psalms explains through David that you are wonderfully made, and then you question what the world states about you?  Get real.  God made you.  Your master is the sovereign of the universe and you wonder if you are good enough.

Are you so darn thinned skinned that you bleed with the slightest slur?  With the slightest criticism of our body, our mind, our soul?

And when you say all the things that you do.  Yes, it hurts and I do bleed.

In the Lord’s creation, it said it was all good.  I will take him at his word.

The truth is:  I expect you to say hateful things, bad things about me, especially when it is not true.  I expect all of that.

And in the absence of the truth, I will bleed, yet will not die, will not

You are wonderful, but not because of your skin, but because of your character.

Because you are special to me, you neighbors and those around you.

When you do all of that, you are going to bleed because you bleed and all of this is beyond physical, it goes down to the soul.  WE bleed because we care.