What is God's Will? from David Platt

The more we know God, and the more we walk in His will, the more we understand how foolish it is to think He would ever want to hide it [His will] from us.

Instead, we realize that His desire for us to know His will is exponentially greater than our desire to know it.

He desires for us to know His will so much that He reveals it to us in His Word.

God has a will and He has made it clear. From cover to cover in the Bible, God wills to redeem men and women from every nation tribe, language, and people by His grace and for His glory.

At the beginning of history, God created man and woman to enjoy his grace and extend His glory across the earth. (Genesis 1:26-28).

The patriarchs then show us how God blesses His people so that His blessing will be spread to all people. (Genesis 12:1-3; 26:4; 28:14).


The psalmist in the Old Testament knows this is God's will, so he prays, "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His Face to shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations." (Psalm 67:1-2).

The will of God is clear from cover to cover in Scripture. From beginning to end, God wills to be worshipped.

He wills for all people to hear, receive, embrace, and respond to the gospel of His grace for the sake of His glory all over the globe.

This will is not intended to be found; it is intended to be followed.

We don't have to wonder about God's will when we've been created to walk in it.

We have no need to ask God to reveal His will for our lives; instead we ask God to align our lives with the will He has already revealed.

---From Follow Me, By David Platt, Chapter 6.

Every Day is a Hallelujah Day!

                                                        

                                                         Every Day is a Hallelujah Day!

"But as for me, I will sing about Your power. 

Each morning I will sing with joy about Your unfailing love. For You have been my refuge, 

a place of safety when I am in distress" 

  Psalm 59:16

I love the way those ancient Hebrews worshipped God with such joy and exuberance!

Simple theology-- His love is unfailing. He is our place of safety!

They knew how to rejoice without reservation in their faithful and loving God and Savior.

Going to church with them must have been a lot of fun!

Later in the New Testament, Paul reminds us to share our joyful worship with others: "Speaking to one another with psalms, songs,and hymns from the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:19).

That shows we should intentionally stir up joyous worship in others also!

We, too, have expressions of great joy -- we sometimes even need help in expressing our gratitude and we ask God to 'tune my heart to sing Thy grace,' because 'streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise'!

We need God to 'tune us up' and keep us going! Even make us louder!

Maybe sometimes we even ask for angelic help and we plead, 'Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above'....

(Those lines are from the hymn Come Thou Fount.)

Another composer wishes he had a 'Thousand Tongues' to sing his praises - one is not nearly enough do the job!

What musical treasures we have!

But most of all, since we are on this side of the Cross, we have even more reason to 'Sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord.'

What if the ancient Hebrews knew what we knew!  No psalm would ever be able to contain their joy!

So let's make this a real "Hallelujah Day" and sing His Praises all day! Let's pretend we are going to worship with them!

Is He Really Our Father? C S Lewis

                                                    Is He Really Our Father?

[Jesus said, "This then is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven....']

About The Lord's Prayer - Words from C S Lewis

"Its very first words are 'Our Father.' Do you see what those words mean? They mean,  quite frankly, that you are putting yourself in the place of a son of God.

To put it bluntly, you are dressing up as Christ.

If you like, you are pretending.

Because, of course, the moment you realize what the words mean, you realize that you are not a son of God. You are not being like the Son of God, whose will and interests are one with those of the Father; you are a bundle of self-centered fears, hopes, greeds, jealousies, and self-conceit, all doomed to death.

So that, in a way, this dressing up as Christ, is an act of outrageous arrogance.

But the odd thing  is He ordered us to do it..."

 mean\\

If (when) we're near to Jesus - Charles Spurgeon

The Lord Jesus gives special revelation of Himself to His people.

Even if Scripture did not declare this, many children of God could testify to the truth of it from their own experience....

...when Jesus manifests Himself to His people, it is heaven on earth; it is paradise in embryo; it is bliss begun.

Special manifestations of Christ exercise a holy influence on the believer's heart.

One effect will be humility.

If a man says, "I have had such-and-such spiritual communications; I am a great man," he has never had any communication with Jesus at all; for "the LORD regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar" (Psalm 138:6).  He does not need to come near the haughty to know them and will never give them visits of love.

Another effect will be happiness; for in God's presence there are pleasures forevermore.

Holiness will be sure to follow. A man who has no holiness has never had this manifestation [God's revelation]. Some men profess a great deal, but we must not believe anyone unless we see that his actions agree with what he says.

 "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked" (Galatians 6:7). He will not bestow His favors upon the wicked, for He will neither cast away a perfect man, nor will he respect an evildoer.

Thus there will be three effects of nearness to Jesus--humility, happiness, and holiness.

May God give them to you, Christian!

           --  Charles Spurgeon

The Cathedral - The very stones cry out!

 The Stones do indeed cry out!


I'm re-reading a book I enjoyed some years ago: Life in a Medieval City by Joseph and Frances Gies.

It's the story of a French town, Troyes, and life in that city in the 1200's.


One of the chapters is called The Cathedral and it describes the construction of the great cathedral at Troyes.


The masons and artists who designed and built the cathedral were not extraordinary geniuses, but they were  intelligent men who could recognize that they were building their monument to God, largely as a result of a series of remarkable accidents: (1) the discovery of  the cross-rib vault, proving to be strong enough to lift tons of stone high into the air, which led to (2) the flying buttresses which could artfully support the walls from outward pressure and (3) the poor quality of the window glass being produced at that time which led to the accidental discovery of using colored, or "stained,"  glass, in order to disguise the many imperfections of the glass.


Very often the masons and artists would engrave their initials in a secret place, not for public acclaim, the authors note.



And even today,  workmen high up on the scaffolding, repairing out-of-sight and hard-to-reach places, find hidden, on the stones, the personal marks left by ancient masons centuries ago identifying them as the humble stone-workers who were creating lasting monuments to God. They left their names on their work!

The master glazier is not aiming at immortality or even fame, though he is agreeably aware that his name is well-known among glassmakers, masons, prelates, and even the general public. Yet he puts something into his work that is not merely talent and knowledge. Neither is it religious zeal. It is pride, and he can find ample justification for it in religion, for the priests told him that God was a craftsman who looked on His work and found it good.

I am touched by these words by the authors. The worker had pride in his crafts, even as God Himself declared His own work good.  These master builders were styling themselves after God. They were eager to call their work good and to stamp their names on it permanently. Just as God stamped His sign, His image, on us.


Not all churchmen appreciated the majesty of the dazzling brilliance of the cathedral. St. Bernard himself wrote angrily about it:

Why this excessive height, this enormous length, this unnecessary width, these sumptuous ornaments and curious paintings that draw the eyes and distract the attention from meditation?...We, the monks, who have forsaken ordinary life and who have renounced the riches and ostentation of the world....in whom do we hope to awaken devotion with these ornaments...One could spend a whole day gaping instead of meditation on God. What ineptitude, and what expense!

But St. Bernard is long dead, as are the masons and artists who put so much of themselves in their work in the European cathedrals.  The authors conclude:

Today most acknowledge that the cathedrals' success in creating an atmosphere of mystery and awe is of incontestable value to religion. No man, burgher, or baron, can enter a Gothic cathedral without experiencing a sense of human insignificance in the presence of such majesty.

We have lost much of our heritage today. Part of that forgotten heritage is the way we look at work. Secular historians call it, often in a scornful tone, "the Protestant (or Puritan) work ethic."


That ethic was that a person's job, or task, was a gift from God. And all details the worker did in his job was to reflect the glory of God. If it was washing dishes, planting crops, building houses, feeding farm animals -- all of our work was to be proclaimed "good," just as God Himself proclaimed all His work good.


I think perhaps this "work ethic" is forever lost. Some things are irretrievable.



            Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.
                               Genesis 1:31


P.S. And in thinking about the great stone blocks the ancient masons carved for their cathedrals -- doesn't it remind you of Christ's words to those Pharisees when they asked Him to quiet His disciples and rebuke them for their words of praise? And Christ said "'If they are silent, the stones themselves will cry out.."  The ancient masons carving the stones for the cathedrals -- they were releasing the voice of God through the very stones around them.....?  Were they themselves hearing the voice of God as they worked?

How Do We Become Like Christ? C S Lewis

 

                                               

                                                      How Do We Become Like Christ?

                                                                                From C S Lewis' Mere Christianity

And now we begin to see what the New Testament is always talking about. It talks about Christians 'being born again';  it talks about them 'putting on Christ'; about Christ 'being formed in us'; about our coming to 'have the mind of Christ.'

Put right out of your head the idea that these are only fancy ways of saying that Christians are to read what Christ said and try to carry it out -- as a man may read what Plato or Marx said and try to carry it out.

They mean much more than that.

They mean that a real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing these things to you.

It is not a question of a good man who died 2000 years ago. It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of life He has.

At first, only for moments. Then for longer periods.

Finally, if all goes well, turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge, and eternity.

Remembering Moses

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt -- to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.

For no one has ever shown  the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.   
                  -- Deuteronomy 34:10-12

Think of it - Moses did ALL the signs and wonders God sent him to do - not part of them, not most of them...but ALL God told him to do!

Moses did all he was sent to do.....

And he did it in the sight of (1) Pharaoh and his officials and the whole land of Egypt, and (2) in the sight of all Israel.

Moses was born in Egypt. He was reared and educated in the Pharaoh's palace in Egypt. He was an Egyptian!

But he was also one of God's people.

He was one of God's people living in an alien land - in a pagan culture. 

Kind of like us?

And he still did all that God commanded him to do.

His life challenges me.

How Should I Pray for My Friends?

                                               

                                                How Should I Pray for My Friends?

           "I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and divine revelation, so that you may know Him better."

                                            -- Ephesians 1:17

I love this verse. In Paul's opening thoughts in his letter to his dear friends in Ephesus he reminds them that he is thankful for them and that he prays for them.

And what does he pray? That God will give them "wisdom and divine revelation" - both of which come only from God, the Source of both -- and for what reason? That they may know God better!

Isn't this our pattern for praying for our friends? 

We pray for their health, safety, success, happiness, etc. and all the myriad of things that come to our minds. But isn't the real goal that they can know God better? 

Knowing God better will help us to equip ourselves for life here on earth and -- remember the old lullaby -- "fit us for heaven to live with Thee there"?

This should be our prayer model. 

Remember reading, probably years ago, Tennyson's Morte D'Arthur (The Death of King Arthur)?

These words from Arthur as he is in the barge saying good-bye to his friends:

"The old order changeth, yielding place to new

And God fulfills Himself in many ways..,.

I have lived my life, and that which I have done

May He within Himself make pure! But thou,

If thou shouldst never see my face again,

Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer

Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice

Rise like a fountain for me night and day.

For what are men better than sheep or goats

That nourish a blind life within the brain,

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer

Both for themselves and those who call them friend?

For so the whole world is in every way

                                Bound in gold chains about the feet of God."

Read it again....

An Almost Lost (and Last) Song - From Daniel

                                                

                         Almost Lost Song - From Daniel

I ran across this beautiful hymn recently. Legends say that this was the hymn sung by the three young Hebrew boys -- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego -- while they were in the firey furnace in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Scholars date it as over 2000 years for certain (except for the last two lines which were added by early Christians).

Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers;

Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name;

We will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.

Glory to you in the splendor of your temple,

On the throne of your majesty, glory to you.

Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim.

We will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.

Glory to you, beholding the depths;

In the high vault of heaven, glory to you.

Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

We will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.

Remember the story (Daniel 3)?
So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisors crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own god....no other god can save in this way...".

The King's letter "To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world:It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

How great are his signs,
How mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;
His dominion endures from generation to generation

No other God can save this way.......words from Nebuchadnezzar....and he didn't even know the half of it!

What Do We Worship?

Who do we worship?


The gods we worship write their names on our faces; be sure of that.

A person will worship something, have no doubt about that.

We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our heart, but it will out.

That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character.

Therefore it behooves us to be careful of what we worship, for what we are worshiping we are becoming.  

                                  -- Ralph Waldo Emerson



And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 

                               -- 2 Corinthians 3:18

How Should I Act Today? - C S Lewis

 

                                                     How Should I Act Today?

Wise words from C S Lewis...

"Let me make it quite clear that when Christians say the Christ-life is in them, they do not mean simply something mental or moral.

When they speak of being 'in Christ' or of Christ being 'in them', this is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him.

They mean that Christ is in fact operating through them: that the whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts -- that we are His fingers and muscles, the cells of His body..."

[And so we are truly the Body of Christ here on this earth -- His heart, His hands, His voice, His physical acts of love and kindness are originating in Him but coming through us - His Body on earth.]

The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing....RC Sproul

This is from The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul:

If I were to ask a group of Christians what the top priority of the church is, I am sure I would get a wide variety of answers. Some would say evangelism, others social action, and still others spiritual nurture. But I have yet to hear anyone talk about what Jesus' priorities were.


What is the first petition of the Lord's Prayer? Jesus said, "This then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven...'" (Matt 6) The first line of the prayer is not a petition. It is a form of personal address.

The prayer continues: "hallowed be your name, your kingdom come." We often confuse the words "hallowed be your name" with part of the address, as if the words were "hallowed is your name."

In that case the words would merely be an ascription of praise to God. But that is not how Jesus said it. He uttered it as a petition, as the first petition. We should be praying that God's name be hallowed, that God be regarded as holy.

There is a kind of sequence within the prayer. God's kingdom will never come where His name is not considered holy. His will is not done on earth as it is in heaven if His name in desecrated here. In heaven the name of God is holy. It is breathed by angels in a sacred hush. Heaven is a place where reverence of God is total. It is foolish to look for the kingdom where God is not revered.

How we understand the person and character of God the Father affects every aspect of our lives. It affects far more than what we normally call the "religious" aspects of our lives.

If God is the Creator of the entire universe then it must follow that He is the Lord of the entire universe. No part of the world is outside His Lordship. That means that no part of my life is outside His Lordship. His holy character has something to say about economics, athletics, politics, romance--everything with which we are involved.

God is inescapable. There is no place we can hide from Him. Not only does He penetrate every aspect of our lives, but He penetrates it in His majestic holiness.


Therefore we must seek to understand what holiness is. There can be no worship, no spiritual growth, no true obedience without it. It defines our goal as Christians. God has declared, "Be holy, because I am holy." (Lev. 11:44)

Lost Your Address?

 

                                            Lost Your Address?

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge,  my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him.   (Psalm 91:1-2 NLT)

Trust

Live in His Shelter

Sometimes we forget where we live. Like some amnesiac we see on an old TV show or read about in a novel. We forget our name and where we live. 

A compassionate friend gives them a slip of paper with their name and address on it, until things can be sorted out.

We need to remember who we are - God's children -  and where we live - in His shelter, our only place of safety. Maybe we need to carry this verse with us.

Sometimes we need to go back home!

Fretting and Worrying - Oswald Chambers

                                      

                                                 Fretting and Worrying 

                                                                        --   Words from Oswald Chambers

"Do not fret. It only causes harm " (Psalm 37:8).

"Fretting means getting ourselves 'out of joint' mentally or spiritually.

Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances, but on your relationship with God Himself. 

Worrying always results in sin.

We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is a much better indication of just how wicked we really are.

Fretting rises from our determination to have things our own way.

Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God's plans.

Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.

Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you.

All your fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God."

TIred of being just an egg? C S Lewis

                                                 Tired of Being Just an Egg?

"...a new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the differences between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through.

He never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it.

He meant that we must go in for the full treatment.

It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering for is much harder -- in fact, it is impossible.

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly when remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg.

We must be hatched or go bad."       

                                               C S Lewis, from Mere Christianity

                 

What God Wants You to Remember Today

                                     

                                           What God Wants You to Remember Today

Hear His voice --

"Don't worry about what you are facing today. I am always with you.

I have a plan. Add I will never let go of your hand.

Give Me your worries and all your anxious thoughts.

I will fix what is hurting.

To doubt My love disappoints Me.

Let Me show you today how much I love you.

Remember I am preparing a place for you to live with Me forever....

That's your 'strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow'!"

Babette Prepares a Feast!

Babette Hersant, in 1871,  flees a terrifying life of violence in a French commune.  She finds herself in a small village in north Denmark.

The villagers, hardened by hypocrisy and self-centeredness,  experience a loveless, cheerless religion.

She takes up residence in the home of two woeful sisters, Martine and Filippa, daughters of the founder of their bleak religious order.

Babette suddenly becomes the winner of a lottery,
(10,000 francs) and keeping her winnings a secret,
decides to offer her community an extravagant French dinner.

The lottery ticket is her only tie to her previous life in Paris -- a gift from a friend who keeps renewing it every year.

She could have used the money to return to her life in Paris, escaping from the joyless existence of her village life. She had been there 14 years and certainly going back to Paris must have had some appeal.

But, instead, she decides to gift the entire community with a fabulous meal, one that they would never have had occasion to experience.

(Babette had been a master chef during her earlier life in Paris).

Using her new wealth, she has all the necessary items shipped in by boat: ice, dishes, fine linen, cheeses and meats, cases of wine, and a very large turtle--destined for the soup pot.

The opulent dinner scene reminds us of the splendor of a wedding banquet, an image also presented for us in the Bible to describe God's fellowship with his people, when we are brought, with great rejoicing, safely into His heavenly kingdom.

The extravagant richness and joy of the meal transforms the guests from gloomy and petty souls into people who have tasted divine mercy.


Their eyes and now open, realize they are the recipients of an experience they could never have imagined.

They are changed, transformed at the magnificent display of Babette's feast.

One guest, General Lowenhielm, says, "The moment comes when our eyes are opened, and we see and realize that grace is infinite. Grace, my friends, demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence and acknowledge it in gratitude...grace takes us all to its bosom and proclaims general amnesty."

God's grace is seen, by most in the room, for the first time, as God who reveals His love, even partially, in a meal prepared with love and sacrifice.

Babette's Feast was movie produced in 1987, based on a screen play written by Isak Dinesen.

What more joyous words than from the General: Grace is infinite....demands nothing from us but that we await it with confidence and acknowledge it with gratitude....

"So what", we might say, "It was just meal!"

Perhaps.

But it is a reminder of another meal, two thousand years ago, in an  upstairs room, when Jesus had dinner with His disciples....

When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, "You've no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It's the last one I'll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God."

Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory."

He did the same with the cup, after supper, saying, "This is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you."
 (Luke 22)


God's infinite grace...explained at a simple meal, a meal prepared with love and sacrifice.

What brings God delight?

                                       What Brings God Delight?

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea.  Micah 7:18-19

These words linger on and in my heart these days. Almost like a sticky note attached to my mind - and I am so grateful for these
"sticky notes from God our Father"!

What He is reminding me is that He doesn't extend mercy grudgingly, as a stingy miser might, out of his own meager supply. God "delights" to give us His mercy! It gives Him pleasure! And it comes from His unlimited abundance!

No wonder non-believers find it difficult to believe in and accept this God! He LOVES us, and so He LOVES to pardon and forgive.

It does seem like a crazy story - who would make up a religion like this? After years of studying evolution and anthropology, (with its teaching that all religions are man-made) this is why I came back to believing in the God of our Bible - it's such a crazy story - no one would make it up - and so it must be true!

C. S. Lewis said sort of the same thing - As an adult, he turned from atheism to theism and then to Christianity - not because of some vague belief in an "intelligent designer" but because of the God proclaimed in the Bible - "I believe, not just in any god, but in this God!" he said.

Then I notice what He does with our sins - He hurls them into the depths of the sea - He doesn't just drop them overboard in a lake or shallow pond --  He hurls them - away from His presence forever!
Someone has said: And then He puts up a 'no fishing' sign - telling us we can't go back and retrieve them - they are gone FOREVER - and we must understand that and not bring them up again! He doesn't, so why should we?

Messages from God

As you listen to birds calling to one another, hear also My love-call to you.

I speak to you continually: through sights, sounds, thoughts, impressions, scriptures.

There is no limit to the variety of ways I can communicate with you.

Your part is to be attentive to My messages, in whatever form they come.

When you set out to find Me each day, you will discover that the world is vibrantly alive with My Presence.

You can find Me not only in beauty and birdcalls, and in all My glorious acts of mercy and kindness around you,  but also in tragedy and faces filled with  loneliness and  grief.

In lives of those whose circumstances might appear hopeless, I also speak to you. 

I can take the deepest sorrow and weave it into a pattern for good.
In all things I work for the good of My children.

Watch how I do it.

Search for Me and My messages as you go through this day.

Start now.

See how the whole world vibrates with My messages.

Watch and listen.

You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you.

     -- Jeremiah 29:13-14

My sheep listen to My voice.

    -- John 10:27

And we know that in all things

God works for the good of those who love Him.

-- Romans 8:28

What Made David Happy?

                                                 What Made David Happy?

Words from David recorded in Psalm 26: "I go about your altar, LORD, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling all your wonderful deeds. LORD, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells."

How joyous David is that he can come into the  house where God lives, where God's glory dwells.He moves freely around, praising God out loud! Such a beautiful picture!

But what about us? The gospel tells us that now Jesus Is the true temple (John 2) -- that God's glory dwells in Him and with all of us who unite with Him through faith (1 Peter 2). 

Those people in the next row with the whiny baby? That lady who really should carry a box of Kleenex with her? Those young people who don't dress right for church (or anywhere else for that matter!) 

They should be objects of my love and respect because God's glory dwells in them!

Father, each of my brothers and sisters in your family has your image and is precious in your sight, and house Christ and His glory. How can I be cold, impatient, irritable, and disrespectful to them? How can I look down at them? 

But I do sometimes. I need more of your love -- please fill me  to joyful overflowing -- your fountain has an endless supply. And I stand here with an empty heart.

As You have been to me, help me to be to others.

Amen.

More from Chesterton - "Orthodoxy" (#2)

In Orthodoxy, Chapter 9, Chesterton continues his evaluation of charges against religion, especially Christianity.

One of the many reasons I enjoy reading Chesterton is that he has such a delightful way of turning our thoughts inside out -- taking what is assumed (and taught in our secular educational institutions) and showing how illogical and void of reality they are.

The Truth is so simple and easy to understand. It is the falsehoods that are complex and complicated. "It is just not true," he often says.

Another reason I treasure his thinking is that so much of what he writes is basically a description of his own journey from atheism into faith....from complicated, unfounded assumptions, to the light of reality and truth.

Faith is not a leap into the dark -- it is a leap from the dark into the light!



I often wonder what field of study is the most prominent in illogical, fallacious arguments: history? geology? anthropology?

We usually point to biology as the chief culprit. But I sense all the fields of study are at fault for teaching what is just not true.

Here's an example from history -- the Church in the Dark Ages --


Chesterton writes:

     I take in order the next incident offered: the idea that Christianity belongs in the Dark Ages. Here I did not satisfy myself with reading modern generalizations. I read a little history. And in history I found that Christianity, so far from belonging to the Dark Ages, was the one path across the Dark Ages that was not dark.

     It was a shining bridge connecting two shining civilizations. If anyone says that the faith arose in ignorance  and savagery the answer is simple: it didn't.  It arose in the Mediterranean civilizations in the full summer of the Roman Empire.

     The world was swarming with skeptics, and pantheism was as plain as the sun when Constantine nailed the cross to the mast.

     It is perfectly true that afterwards the ship sank, but it is far more extraordinary that the ship came up again: repainted and glistening, with the cross still at the top.  This is the amazing thing the religion did: it turned the sunken ship into a submarine. The ark lived under the load of waters; after being buried under the debris of dynasties and clans, we arose and remembered Rome.

     If our faith had been a mere fad of the fading empire, fad would have followed fad into the twilight; and if civilization had ever re-emerged (and many such have never re-emerged) it would have been under some new barbaric flag.

     But the Christian Church was the last life of the old society and also the first life of the new.

     She took the people who were forgetting how to make an arch, and she taught them how to invent a Gothic arch. In a word, the most absurd thing that could be said of the church is the thing we have all heard said of it. How can we say the Church wishes to bring us back into the Dark Ages? The Church was the only thing that ever brought us out of them....

The Incomparable Chesterton -- "Orthodoxy" (#1)

In Chapter 9 of Orthodoxy, Chesterton speaks about something that used to intrigue me in various anthropology classes: The lists of "proofs" used by secular anthologists to reject any notion of a Creator God, were, to me, the exact same items I would put on a list to indicate the presence of a great Creator God -- same arguments and evidences,  same proof texts -- different conclusion. 

 One of these so-called "proofs" was the similarity, especially symmetrical design, of both animals and man.  To me, it was an indication of a "common Creator." To my atheistic professors, it was  "proof" of evolution,  random development by chance, without any Intelligent Design.

Here Chesterton talks about the physical similarity between man and beasts:

     If you leave off looking at books about beasts and men, if you begin to look at beasts and men themselves then (if you have any humour or imagination), you will observe that the startling thing is not how like man is to the brutes, but now unlike he is.

     It is the monstrous scale of his divergence that requires an explanation. That man and brute are like is, in a sense, a truism; but that being so like they should be so insanely
unlike, that is the shock and the enigma.

     That an ape has hands is far less interesting to the philosophers than the fact that having hands he does not do anything with them; does not play knuckle-bones or the violin; does not carve marble or carve mutton.

     People talk of barbaric architecture and debased art. But elephants do not build colossal temples of ivory even in a rococo style; camels do not paint even bad pictures, though equipped with the material of many camel's-hair brushes.

     Certain modern dreamers say that ants and bees have a society superior to ours. They have, indeed, a civilization; but that very truth only reminds us that it is an inferior civilization. Who ever found an ant-hill decorated with the statues of other celebrated ants? Who has seen a bee-hive carved with the images of gorgeous queens of old?

     No, the chasm between man and other creatures may have a natural explanation, but it is a chasm.

     We talk of wild animals, but man is the only wild animal. It is man that has broken out. All other animals are tame animals; following the rugged respectability of the tribe or type. All other animals are domestic animals, man alone is ever undomestic, either as a profligate or a monk.

     So that this first superficial reason for materialism is, if anything, a reason for its opposite; it is exactly where biology leaves off that all religion begins.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I enjoy reading Chesterton --- he always has a different way of looking at things -- it's not that we are so much like animals - the true marvel is that we are so different!!

...the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul....Genesis 2:7

A Prayer for Almost very Day

                                                     A Prayer for Almost Every Day

Father,

I sometimes do doubt You.

 ......That's sinful of me. 

I think of the man who told You, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."

I do generally believe You are with me and You are caring for me. But sometimes I get distracted by my fears and anxious thoughts. They consume me! And I return to old habits.

Who can I trust more than You? Myself? That would be the most foolish thing of all!

Thank You for being my Abba, Father who takes my fears seriously and doesn't reject me when I fail.

Thank You that I can bring all my thoughts to You and You lovingly hold me and reassure me that I can always count on You to protect me and keep all Your promises.

There's no one else I can count on and I desire You above anything else.

Thank You forever for Your unfailing and unlimited love.

Amen.

  

Joseph's Other Coat

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.
-- Hebrews 11:22

I read this verse and marvel. We know so many wonderful things about Joseph.

He and Daniel are the only main characters in the Old Testament who have no negative traits or actions attached to them. No sinful thing recorded. 

In Joseph's case, he really stands out. Genesis is such a disastrous record of human errors and sins against God and man, practically a cesspool of human evil.

And Joseph stands out like a Garden of Eden island in the midst of the swamp. Sometimes I think that is why God saved for us so much about Joseph's life -- we needed the contrast!

But why is his prophecy and the instructions about his bones singled out as noteworthy in Hebrews 11? The writer of Hebrews could have said (allowing for the movement of the Holy Spirit, of course) that Joseph could be applauded for his faith in God's providence, for his right conduct under terrible circumstances, for his patience during tribulation and injustice, and for his faith expressed in Genesis 50 when he told his brothers,

Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. -- Genesis 50:19-20.

Now that's faith -- pure, untarnished faith in the ultimate sovereignty of God and His control of all human activity. The all encompassing providence of God.

So why did the author select Joseph's words about the future of Israel and his own burial to be honored in Faith's Hall of Fame? Why not select other aspects of his God-honoring life?

If most of us had lived through Joseph's rejection and sinful treatment from his brothers and all the unfounded accusations and wrongful imprisonment in Egypt, we would have likely left or at least questioned our faith.

But Joseph didn't. Even in the ungodly, luxurious temples of Egypt he kept his faith in Yahweh.

He held on to his faith in the pit where his brothers left him, through being a slave, through false accusations and imprisonments in Egypt, through injustices and broken promises.

He didn't use his circumstances to blame others. He accepted "as from a Father's hand" all his predicaments, and did not use them as an excuse for unbelief.

So Joseph's place in Hebrews 11 Hall of Fame was because:

(1) Joseph knew what he believed about God. And Joseph believed what he knew about God. Jacob must have done a thorough job in educating him in the ways of God. Joseph must have known accurately and believed faithfully that Yahweh was going to eventually fulfill His unconditional covenant to Abraham, his great-grandfather.

(2) Joseph knew where he really belonged -- in Canaan. Did he understand that what was happening to him related to God's words to Abraham?

Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. -- Genesis 15

Did Joseph know he had a specific part in that revelation?

We don't know for certain. But we know Joseph knew his God, and he believed in God's control of events in the lives of His children.

And Joseph believed in his dreams and he knew God had spoken to him through them.

Joseph had every reason to doubt man and God. But he chose belief. He chose faith in that God who had spoken to him and to his father Jacob about God's covenant with Abraham. So he made his family promise to carry his remains with them when they left Egypt to return to their Promised Land.

I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...and then you must carry my bones up from this place....So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt. -- Genesis 50

Did they do it? Of course, they did.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with them when they left Egypt because he knew about Joseph's request several generations before. And he even recorded it again for the record:
So Moses reminds his readers that Joseph had said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.' -- Exodus 13:19

And for the forty years wandering in the wilderness, the Hebrews carried the bones of Joseph with them, probably in that coffin. Finally, at the end of Joshua we read:

And Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants.
Joshua 24:32.

(It was on this property that Jesus stopped for a drink and encountered -- or she encountered Him--the woman who really needed "living water," not from Jacob's well but from the Source of all--Jesus Himself.)

If I remember correctly (and that's about a 50/50 chance) Joseph's coffin is referred to in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

So Joseph is remembered in Hebrews 11:22 for his faith in God's promises and because he wanted to a part of that future land because he knew that's where he belonged -- with God's people in that Promised Land.

Believing God is faithful is the basis for all of us to be accepted by God.

We all remember Jacob's unfortunate gift of a special coat to his son Joseph. So what about Joseph's other coat? He'll be wearing it when we see him!

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has
clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of
righteousness...-- Isaiah 61:11

When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh, may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand.

-- Edward Mote

Why Not Believe?

                                            Why Not Believe?

I'm reading Romans 1. Since I love history it is a great chapter to describe the history of the world in just 32 verses!

Particularly striking to me this reading is verse 25: "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie."

We always exchange things voluntarily -- we want something else more.

That's true for all the gifts we receive. 

Maybe we want a different size or color. But for whatever reason, we want something else more.

I have read several studies recently recounting various debates and discussions between Christians and atheists.

I notice an interesting theme --  When a Christian asks an atheist, "If Christianity was proven to you to be true - if Christ were to be proven to be who He said He was - would you become a Christian?"

A surprising number say "No." 

Think of it: if demonstrable proof could be found to prove beyond a doubt that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God and Creator of the world - if His claims were proven to be true -  if He were to appear on the stage in front of them and show His scars, they would still not follow Him! (And that's hard for me to believe!)

There is a lot of logical evidence for our faith. It is not a 'Leap into the dark" but a leap into the sensible light of clear thinking.

But this is a reminder that if people choose not to believe we are wasting our time trying to argue with them. 

We should still scatter seeds and pray for a harvest. But we must remember that faith is a gift from God Himself. And we must wait for Him to move.

We must still be obedient and spread the word, but the harvest is not up to us.

Some people, no matter what, will choose to exchange their gift for something else.