You're Making It Too Difficult

I am very familiar with the power and allure of putting things off. The fear of effort, change, and failure is a terrible obstacle to any kind of breakthrough in life. After all, it feels like a legitimate reason not to do anything at all! This way you can sit the conflict out, without making the huge emotional investment only to be told you did it wrong. Something good might still come out of it for you without all the strain.

While it is true that living itself requires a great deal of effort, and that is where we learn our avoidance techniques, there is always ONE thing that requires little contribution from us. Our salvation, what makes the difference between eternal joy and eternal anguish, is simply our belief in Him. He told us to trust Him. He is the One who did the difficult part and made the all out sacrifice to invest in us.

Give up the control. Give it to Him. Don't wait until you're doing better. If you wait till then (and if it happens) then you will assume that you don't need Him. Don't pretend that He can be bought off with ritual or sacrifice on your part. All of our labor is but tawdry ugliness and will not satisfy Him. He has told us that His own hard work on our behalf is sufficient. Can our own efforts accomplish more than His? You see, whether we put Him off because we think we're not good enough, or because we think we can do enough to qualify to be good enough, either way we are making it too difficult. Salvation is a free gift for the accepting, and He is not willing that any should perish. May His will be done.

In the Face of the Evidence

Richard Dawkins made a statement. He said that faith is when someone believes into the face of the evidence. Some of you may know that Mr. Dawkins is a militant atheist, and this is his "polite" way of saying that the simple minded are rebelling against the party line. I am sure that Mr. Dawkins will be vastly disappointed not to mention humiliated, when he is brought to account for this very denial of reality that he accuses others of.

The reasons for faith are varied, depending on the person having the belief, but belief, by it's very nature, is based on reason, not in spite of it. There are just some people whom God creates more reasonable than others. These are diligent to investigate the path the facts follow, instead of just following fantasy and inclination. Then there are the others who want what they want no matter who or what logic must pay the price. The second group constructs an elaborate hierarchy of smoke and mirrors to conceal the truth from themselves and by extension, from others. There are the "scientific" theories carefully compiled to provide alternative explanations for the revealed arm of the Lord. Never mind that they really make no sense in the light of the evidence. Then there are the "experts", "scholars" meticulously schooled to speak and teach these theories, regardless of what they might actually think of them. There is the withering scorn reserved for anyone who steps out of line, a contemptuous superiority directed towards anything godly. So much hatred can only come from one source, the fear and terror which must be repressed at all costs. Denying the truth is supposed to make it go away.

I submit to you, that this faith that God requires from us is the only reasonable response to Him after all that He has shown us and done for us. It is the demand for the obedience of belief, from a sovereign Creator. If we cannot give Him this modicum of trust, then we are useless to Him in accomplishing His good purposes.

The Day

Awakened from the darkness in which I was sleeping

Through which moved dreams of sorrow and weeping.

What I perceive has changed from gloom into light

When I opened my eyes, forever passed was the night.

Here is no time, spring that eternal moment

Outside of the bounds of where evil's anger is spent.

Things are aglow and no shadow is found

Sings all creation with melodious, harmonic, sound.

The breeze, the blue sky, the flowers, speak peace.

Overwhelmed by tranquility that I know will never cease.

Once dull physical senses are unhindered, acute.

Wisdom and intellect dance together as partners, astute.

A surfeit of indulgence in justice and truth

Far from the presence of violence method's uncouth.

Free now to understand Love's grand reason why

He wants me here with Him, Him who's uncontained by the sky.

I've been recreated a worthy temple, His child.

I am His jewel, shining with joy undefiled.

Grow Up in Such a Way That Others Can Grow Up Too!

In a christian's struggle to progress in the likeness of Christ, there comes a plateau of maturity, where seeming contradictions must be reconciled, where waring needs must be brought to a harmonious balance. After all, didn't Jesus say, "The poor you have with you always" to take care of, and chose to allow himself to be ministered to?

When you begin your journey away from selfishness, and submit your will to Him, there will be those who are quick to take advantage. A diabolical mindset sees humility as a weakness to be exploited. Their needs will flower and expand outward to absorb all that time and energy you had freed up to devote to Him.

In all such situations, be alert, engaged, and learning. He will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able to handle, so use all such things to advance in sanctification. Be choosy of the battles you take on, applying strength and knowledge to increase, in others, righteousness and the glory of the Lord. Our will and strength should be exerted in the resistance of evil, over that which compels us to put anything before God in our hearts. It is not because what we want is wrong, of itself. It is because what God wants is better and for the best.

Wash Your Hands

We heard that phrase from our mother. She was the one who existed to nurture us, whose purpose was fulfilled in our well being, and now imparts wisdom to the structure of our life. After all, cleanliness must be attended to before anything can be put to proper use. Without purification, ugly hues and illnesses will soon start invading the rest of our lives. Corruption will spread if it is not evicted early on.

God has used the exact same admonition in His Word, and then tells us it's spiritual equivalent. "Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:8 A mother knows that hands should not be used unless they are first cleaned. So the Lord tells us we are not His, nor can we be used of Him, unless we first avail ourselves of His purification work accomplished at the cross. This is the principal, the foundation, upon which all of our subsequent actions must be built, in order for them and us to be accepted by God.

Recognizing Friends

When God calls me His friend, He does me honor. He is showing me that He recognizes and cherishes my efforts in His name. What a great encouragement it is to know that He values what I do for Him!

With this in mind, I would like to try to imitate His graciousness to recognize the gifts I've been given by my own friends. I'll not name names, but I'm sure you will know who you are! I'm telling you how very much I appreciate you!

I have a friend, whom I happened to overhear when they didn't know I was listening. This person was speaking out against the cruelty shown to me by others. This person's fierce protectiveness is something I choose to have at my back always! Thank you, my friend!

I have another friend who saw creativity in me when I was totally convinced there was none to be found! Gentle, very insistent suggestions have opened up to me a godly outlet for my deepest yearnings which have developed into a concrete expression of the profound. What a genius of a friend!

Another friend, when I added nothing but heaps of trouble to their day, responded with nothing but concern for my welfare, told with hugs and questions after my health. This person, already highly stressed, gave no thought to their own state of mind. Strength and blessings from God, to you, my friend!

I have friends whose generosity overflows into provision for my physical needs. Do you know that you are the very heart of God touching my heart? I pray to do as well, for you are teaching me how to give!

Especially precious to me are those who see my vulnerabilities as opportunities to minister to me, not as openings where they can take advantage for themselves. These angels of God's mercy overlook my faults to see, instead, what it is that God values, so as to nourish and encourage it!

The most valuable trait of all my friends, witnessed by the fact that they are still my friends, is the gift of loving me while keeping me humble! How do they accomplish this amazing feat? With their wonderful, marvelous sense of humor! They see me, they know me, and astonishingly, still include me in their circle! I am different and cherished for it, odd, and it's of value! I will always seek to do the same for you!

There You Go (Barnabas Back in Action)

"There you go" is an affirmative phrase, an acknowledgement of a right attitude or action, and is offered as a verbal support. There is great spiritual power of encouragement when this recognition is rendered. Simply expressing to someone how obvious it is that the Lord is using them can give them the strength to keep on going.

If it is possible to shore up another's courage, just what could we be looking for, as examples of these behaviors, so as to reinforce excellent character? Perhaps a most basic type of laudable action is to, into the face of all the blandishments of evil, just continue to believe. Actions come from what is believed. Another personal choice needing support, is that person who is always there ( and on time, too!) Predictability may not be exciting, but it is courageous. The next, a good deed kept secret from it's recipient, is the giver eshewing their deserved credit. The rest of the world may not see the sense of what the giver has done. An irrepressibly cheerful person who sees the blessing hand of God in every circumstance and every created thing is someone who is essential to healthy faith. Let them know positive is apprecitated! An act which is very unselfish, and makes for a (cough, cough) valiant individual, is the will to wait to judge (and sentence), to suspend procedure and just listen to a miscreant. It's difficult to hold up the instinct for self preservation! It takes a special person indeed to give love where it is not deserved. This visionary gives out Christ so that the lost might grasp ahold of Christ in the depths of their soul!

There is one more who is most needful of all, of that little turn of phrase or action that encourages. One who seeks to always be an encourager might be showing little regard for their own state of mind. It might be costing them dearly in ways we cannot see. Maybe this barnabas is at a low ebb of energy and could use empowerment by receiving the same gift he gives so freely to others!