Why The "Panicking Christian"?

Like most Christians, I occasionally find myself in a borderline, all out panic about something which I already knew, but seem to have forgotten or that I only knew in my head, as opposed to my heart. And mercifully, God decides to show me what is really going on or what it is that I needed to know, before I completely lose my mind.

So the writing within is just that. It is that which God has shown and taught me while I was typically in one of those times in my life. Since the way in which He has chosen to reveal things to me tend to be fairly easy to follow and understand, I am sharing them via this format. That said, I take no glory for any of this. It is God whom has given me the ability to write, and it is He who has given me the content to write as well and He who saved me by His glorious grace in the first place.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Simply Said...

Since we tend to make things more complicated than necessary...

1.  Love God.
2.  Love others.

"Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” ~ Matt. 22:37

"The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Rom. 13:9-10

No check list involved or required, for a "checklist" only serves to gives one a false sense of personal righteousness - making one smug, cocky or judgmental - for "..all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" ~ Isaiah 64:6

Thanks be to God it is not our righteousness we wear:  "not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith" ~ Phil 3:9 and "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe" ~ Rom 3:22

Therefore there is no room for feeling superior or better than another "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast" ~ Eph 2:8-9

Any questions?

Good.  Now let's go live it shall we.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Eye of the Hurricane

Some of this post is from posts I put up on my social media (Facebook) page, some of it is not.
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Whether consciously or not, we all set something as our center in "our world" but if we set something in that place that is temporary - whether person or thing - then there is a chance that someday we find ourselves lost and adrift and without purpose for living at all should that center be gone.

If your reason for being is your significant other, what happens if that relationship ends? If the center of your world revolves around your children, what happens if things are not going well, or they leave or something much more tragic happens? If your career is the center of your universe, what happens if that is taken away from you or it just ends?

I am not saying these things cannot be very, very significant parts of your world but to make them the center of it, and your reason for existing, when any or all of them could leave your life without warning may be worth rethinking a bit.

For me, God is my center. He is eternal so no worries on Him coming to an untimely end. And, even in times when I was not exactly "faithful" in this relationship of ours, He was - He stayed with me even though I did not deserve it, so He is not about to go anywhere anytime soon.

I am not saying you have to have God as your center - that is something between you two - but, since we all need to have 'something' in there, in that place, then does it not make sense to have that be something greater - and far less finite - than ourselves.

Now then, as believers we know God is to be our center and reason for being and we may even say He is, but is He? Is He really everything to us or is something (or someone) else the center of our world and He is merely a part of it?  If that relationship ends or our children leave us or our career disappears or that ministry falls apart, are we left grieving, yet still standing, or do we find ourselves so devastated that, if He were not holding onto us, we would sink beneath the waves never to resurface again? 

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.

All your life, people have "made sure" you knew how worthless you were. Those closest to you have treated you like little more than trash and made sure you knew how much of a disappointment you were. They have done so, so often, and for so long you "know" this to be the truth about you.

God says you are worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox - that you are wonderful, beautiful and amazing - very, very much the opposite of what those people closest to your heart say.

To love Him - above and beyond all others- is to take His word over theirs. His opinion over their opinion, no matter how often they try and tell or show you differently, taking what He says to be the truth in spite them or even your own heart.

Does this hold true for others in your world or is it indeed only God's view which actually matters?  If your parents or spouse occasionally say or do things which make you feel worthless, do you take that in as truth or do you let it slide because you take God's word over theirs? If your children treat you poorly or say things which make you feel like a failure or of no value, do you take that in and make that a reality in your heart and mind or do you simply grieve the comments but rest in the reality of what God says you truly are?

These are things well worth pondering and being totally, truly honest about with yourself and with God - maybe for the first time ever.

Monday, May 30, 2016

How Sweet the Sound

Grace.  Amazing grace.  We hear the word so often but do we understand the scope of those 5 tiny letters?

No matter:

How many people I feed
How good I am (or think I am)
How many habits I give up
How often I go to  church
How many ministries I am involved in
How many times I talk about Him
How much I write about Him
How many people I love

I cannot earn one single drop of His love.
I cannot make Him love me more than He does right now.

No matter:

How many times I skip church
How many habits I refuse to let go of
How many excuses I make
How many opportunities I let slip away
How badly I screw it up - repeatedly

I cannot make Him hate me.
I cannot make Him throw me away like yesterday's trash.
I cannot make Him love me less than He does right now.

This is grace.

I come to Him with nothing and He gives me everything.
I do "great", He gives me everything.
I do 'far, far less than great", He gives me everything.
I deserve wrath and judgment.
He gives me mercy and life.

Grace.

He was not kidding when He told the Apostle, "My grace is enough for you" (2 Cor. 12:9)

If you turn to Him, no matter how good or how bad you think you are, grace is what you will get.
And His grace shall carry you always, for the rest of your days.

Amazing grace.

Monday, May 16, 2016

You put your left foot in, you take your left foot out...

"Come Holy Spirit"
"Holy Spirit, You are welcome here"
"We invite Your presence"
"Come Lord"

There is a good chance you have either heard, or said, those phrases during a church or worship service at some point.  You may even pray them on a regular basis.  Also, there is a good chance that in both situations, you repeat them over and over again repeatedly.

While this is the "face of the modern worship" service, there might be a some items worth the noting.

"And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words."  ~ Matthew 6:7

(We also see this verse "played out" in 1 Kings 18 with Elijah on Mount Carmel)

No where within the New Testament do we see this (sometimes bordering on extreme) repetition, other than being mentioned in the above as something to not do.  Granted, the Matthew verse references prayer and the priests in 1 Kings are "praying" but are not those phrases we began with more akin to prayers than to worship?

Do me a favor and put down the stones for a few minutes anyway, ok?

Why do we "do" worship like this?  Is it not because for someone - maybe you - God made His presence "known" (remember that word) during a service or prayer time that included those elements?  So, obviously, we assume that if it worked once it will work again.  Now stop for a moment and consider the absolute insanity of that line of thinking.  That we - people - have somehow discovered the "magical / mystical" pattern to "make" God show up.  My use of those terms for the pattern is no accident as doing so borders far closer to witchcraft spell casting than worship.  That might rile you a bit but take a look at the worship we see elsewhere in the Bible, say in Isaiah 6:3 or Revelation 4:8 for example.  Now compare that to the more "modern" repeating of set patterns in order to obtain the reaction that "we want" and you will see that the modern approach looks a bit more like what happened on Mt. Carmel than what we see being done in His presence in heaven.

There is another slight issue with our opening phrases.  Simply put, where is God?  Where "is" the Holy Spirit?  I mean, we sing / pray for Him to come or that He is welcome to show up or whatever so, obviously, He must not be there.  Which, again, is insanity at its' finest.  Last time I checked, God was omnipresent - that means He is already there, whether you "feel" Him or not.  And even if He were not, He hardly needs your permission to show up nor your personal invite.  And just because you extend your personal invitation, does not mean He has to do anything - He's God, He can do what He wants.

Now then, I realize that there is some pretty touchy stuff here but I want you to know I am not - by any means - bashing worship or worship services or how you pray, etc.  I do however, want you to consider the "why" of what you do.  For if you organize worship music, for example, in such a way as to try and make God show up and do stuff that you want Him to do, then you are - in essence - doing the exact same thing those priests of Ba'al did in 1 Kings.  You may try and justify that by saying you are talking to God not whoever they were looking for, but you are doing the same variety of action with the same variety of motive - to get something.

Just something you might want to ponder a bit.

*EDIT*

I have had things I have penned before taken out of context to support or condemn <whatever>.  While I do try and be thorough, obviously I cannot control what someone else uses this (or other posts) to say.  That said though, I want to reiterate that I am not condemning any modern worship service style or format any more than I would condemn a worshipper of my God.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

An Unused Freedom?

As Christians, we are to look for guidance with regards to what we are to believe to be true - and subsequently how live our lives - within Scripture, as opposed to our own opinions and preferences. If nothing else, our opinions and preferences can literally change 180 degrees in a single day so living our lives based on them does not make the best sense.  Luckily though, pretty much anything you can think of is actually addressed within the Bible, even just within the New Testament.  Honestly, pretty much the only thing that has changed in our world since the days when the Church was young is our technology so most things can, indeed, be found within.

Problems arise though when people spout off "Biblical" terms or ideas but interpret those with their opinions rather than what the Bible says.  This is not something specific to any person or group but is something we see somewhat often.  Frequently, these people will back up their opinions with text taken out of context or bits and pieces of Scripture taken from different areas of the Bible formed together to say what they want it to.  Sometimes this is intentional but, more often that not, it the result of having learned this from someone else along their walk.  This is why it is so crucial that we, the Church, read our Bibles for ourselves and when we do so, do so not looking for some way to word or reword something to support our view but rather to see what it actually says.

We, in North America, are very fortunate that we live in a place in which we can have and read the Bible.  There are numerous places in this world in which even having a page of it is enough to get you shot.  That said, we really would be foolish to not take advantage of this and read for ourselves rather than just listen to (or read) what someone else has to say.

May the Spirit guide, lead and speak clearly to your hearts and minds as you read the very Word that He wrote for us this day.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Forever and a Day

The preacher preaches about being saved so you can have eternal life and so many take that to be living forever but there is a problem with this thought.  As Christians, we believe there is more than one possible eternal destination - one great, one not so much.  But they are, indeed, both beyond this plane and eternal. Everyone lives forever - that part which makes you "you" - does not die when your frame fades away and you sleep for one final time. So being saved cannot mean living forever since everyone already does that and, since our bodies are imperfect, they wear down and eventually stop working so it cannot mean we live eternally in our current form.  So what does eternal life mean?  Funny you should ask since there is an answer in the Scriptures for John 17:3 says:  "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent".

Eternal life is knowing God.  Not knowing about Him or knowing all the right answers to the questions or even knowing any answers for that matter but actually knowing God.  This is the eternal life which comes to us through Christ our Lord. 

Now consider the words of Jesus in John 5:39-40 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life."  The Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees studied the scripture inside out and backwards, knew and followed every rule and ritual flawlessly and they still did not know God.  More importantly though, we find that we can know God - not just about - by coming to Jesus.  Through Him we come to know God.  To not only know about but truly know and be to be known by God as well.  This is eternal life and it is found in Christ.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Touchy Topic

There are things that are known and discussed with the Christian Church that should not be discussed in the same manner with those outside of it.  One of these is with regards to the marriage relationship and the roles that God has set in place within it.

To illustrate, we look at one word:  submit.


In our current culture, the word submit is not a good thing.  It brings to mind images of cruel, self serving domination. The idea of being pushed down and made to not only feel but be lesser. That is basically how the word is understood and what it means in our day in age.  However, that is not what it always meant nor is it what it means to God.

God says that the wife is to submit to her husband just as the Church submits to Christ (Eph.5).

For those outside of the Church, this is insanity. The reason though, is that they have no frame of reference.  They do not know about submitting to Christ because they never have, therefore it is their version of submission which they use to understand the verse.  And we cannot explain it to them in enough accuracy for them to truly understand - after all, it was God who had to explain to us how we are to submit to Christ.

Another problem comes up in the form of whom the Scripture is talking to. The verse is addressed to believers. Not those outside the Church nor people who go to church twice a year or on Sundays or whose parents went to whatever church. No, it is aimed at those who truly follow Christ - people who truly understand submission as a loving thing not a domination thing. It is also aimed at those men who know how to do this - they understand their responsibility as well in this.  Same word, two totally different meanings. 

It is unfortunate that so many do know the verse though, for many who do not follow Him have used that verse as an excuse to dominate another person.  This obviously creates even more problems with making things understood, when their experiences back up the worldly definition as opposed to the Biblical ideals.

Another unfortunate part is that many who use that verse in a way it was not intended, tend to forget how the husband is supposed to treat and react to the wife, or they just never knew about that part of the Scripture.

So you can see fairly easily that there is a massive difference between how those within and those outside of the Church understand the words in Ephesians 5:21 -31, therefore, caution should be taken and approach modified slightly, when discussing matters of this nature outside of the Body.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

And The Verdict Is...

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." ~ Matthew 7:1-2

I do not know about you, but almost every time I have heard that said the person doing the quoting has always said (or implied) that by judging someone, God will judge you in the same way. Problem: it does not say "God" will judge you, which makes sense since, as believers, we know that the world as a whole has been judged and found guilty right across the board and you cannot be "more guilty" (although, you can feel more guilt).

(On a side note, there are some who will read that and say, "oh no, I am a Christian, I am not judged". Wrong. You certainly were/are and you were found guilty but Christ took the punishment that you were due.)

But if the passage does not mean that God will judge, then what does it mean? Simply put, it means that other people will judge you - it is actually really solid advice. If you, yourself, are not above reproach you probably should not start nit picking other people's behaviors, habits, etc or else you may well find them pointing out your own flaws (keep in mind that Jesus was in the middle of "discussing" the teaching and behaviors of the Pharisees). Of course, none of us are actually above reproach - only One is perfect. After all, just because you do not do <whatever> does not mean you do not do something else that is at least as bad, if not worse.

There are some who may use 1 Cor.6:3, which says "Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life" to back up their judging of another person or persons. This is, again, one of those times we must look at Scripture in context, for the passage is not talking about judging the actions of another person at all.

If we read beginning at verse one, we see the passage is talking about judging matters of dispute between believers. The point being, that we - as Christians - should understand fairness, impartiality and justice even more so than the courts do, therefore we - as a group - should be better suited to make decisions between believers. After all, the courts are free to follow or create whatever precedents they wish to but we are called to follow God.

I suspect that you may have heard people argue on the basis of "judging in love" or some other variation on that phrase but, that term is not in the Bible at all. For that matter, when it comes to judging people, there is a great deal about we are not supposed to do it as there is only One judge. For example, we see in James 4:11-12: "Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?" That's pretty blunt.

So who can we judge? No one, not even ourselves for we - and our Siblings in Christ - belong to the Lord. Only He can judge (Romans 14:4). There are passages in Scripture about judging but most of those reference judging whether a mindset or teaching is in line with the Gospel or not, and not about one person judging another person. It should be noted that this also does not apply to those outside of the Church - we have no right to demand that those who are not part of the Body think as we do.

All considered, I am baffled as to why anyone within the Body would argue that they have the "right" to judge anyone. Although, no doubt, some in the early Church wondered the same considering how often it is mentioned in the NT - would not be said if were not an issue then as well, after all.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Diving Lessons

They arrived at the small field at the top of the cliff - five, rather excited, teenage boys.  It was so hot that day, they could hardly wait. Among them, the most anxious was Bill, it was his first time coming up here. He had heard of this place numerous times but today, today was the very first time he was asked to go.

As the boys quickly slipped off their shoes and shirts, the excitement in the air grew as their voices grew louder.  John was the first to make the run.  He ran, full speed, towards the cliff edge and leaped off the edge with loud yell.  He seemingly hung there in the air for a moment before gravity took over and down he plunged the 40 feet into the waiting pool of cool water below.

Those still atop the small cliff cheered and laughed as John hit the water, dove down into it and quickly popped back up. Then, after some playful pushing, they too ran towards the edge and leaped off one after the other:  George, Tommy and then Steven each in turn.  Caught up in the excitement and anticipation, Bill ran to the edge and...stopped.

He stopped at the edge and peered over the side.  Sure, forty feet was not really that high but looking down from it, it seemed like miles above the deep pool below. He stared and watched as the last boy, Steven, popped back up after his dive.  Questions started to enter his mind. He wondered about how to best jump off.  Should he leap from both feet or should he take off from either his left or right foot first? Which of his legs was the stronger and would propel him the furthest out and up before his dive? And what of the dive itself - what form should he take? Should he free fall feet first, nose plugged or is the classic, head first dive his best option? Then simple questions began to turn into doubts as He wondered if he could jump far enough out, even though it was a straight cliff face.  What if the a strong wind came and pushed him into the cliff?  Worse yet, what if it pushed him to the shallow edge of the pool and instead of deep water he hit the shallows and hard stone?

As each question ran through his mind, Bill stepped backwards away from the edge and now strained his neck to see the boys playing in the water below.  They called out him, urging him on.  Telling him great the water is and how good it felt in the July heat of the day.  They reassured him it was okay, and two even confessed to having been nervous their first time over.  John even tried calling him chicken, hoping to make he defiant enough to make the leap.  But the longer he stood there, frozen in place at the edge of the cliff, the less and less he heard their voices and the more he heard all the doubts and questions which filled his mind, questions now mixed with a building regret for not jumping in the first place. Bill felt sick in his heart for he knew he had to jump - he has to do this - but now doubts and fears filled his mind and he wondered how, how could he do this. How?

How amazing it is when God puts a calling on someone's life and they spring into action, throwing all caution to the wind for they know Who is waiting for them in the place they are diving into head first.  They hit the ground running and seem to never falter for even a moment.  Even when they hit seemingly insurmountable walls, they barely break stride as they drive forward.

It is amazing when we see that happen, but it is not what always happens.  Sometimes, sometimes we hear His call and we excitedly answer but when it comes to taking the leap into the unknown, we falter.  We hesitate for a moment.  Sometimes, that is all it is, a mere moment before jumping off but other times, other times that hesitation turns into being frozen in place - unable to take the leap and yet knowing we cannot go back.  And even worse is that sick feeling that begins to rise inside of us as we stand at the edge, unable to dive wholeheartedly into whatever it is He has called to.

Faith.  Faith is confidence that our hope is not in vain and being sure of things we cannot see (Heb. 11:1).  When God calls us, all we know is just that:  He called us. We cannot see the journey ahead nor where it will go nor anything else. He knows all this, but we don't. All we know is that He called us.

We can try and wait until "everything is perfect" but as each thing falls into place, be sure there will be more issues show up and more doubts and more fears.  Everything is not going to be all lined up perfectly before we move.  If it were, it would require no faith at all to do. None.  And God calls us to answer Him and follow into the unknown, just because of who He is - in spite of fears, in spite of doubts, in spite of everything else our senses and minds may try and tell us - to trust in Him, that He knows what He is doing and that He did not make a mistake in calling us.

Sometimes you just have to jump off the cliff.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Wider than the sky, deeper than the ocean

Have you ever pondered just how incredibly vast and all encompassing the grace of God is?


Consider the words of Isaiah 64:6: "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags".


Those words are often used to with regards to the unsaved or someone trying to earn their way into God's good graces but it does not say only some, but rather, all.


If I were to take everything of my own - every word uttered or written, every lesson taught or preached, every good deed, every act of charity and compassion, everything He ever did through me by His power and every other tidbit I could dig up and then, then I added to my pile every act and word said and done by Spurgeon, Wesley, Martin Luther and Mother Theresa and combined all of that together the resulting ball of "righteousness" would be like nothing more than a single mouse dropping in comparison to the righteousness of God Almighty.


And in spite of how utterly vile I am in comparison He still shows me grace. He still shows me mercy upon mercy upon mercy. How overwhelming vast is the grace of our Lord God that He would show grace to one such as I. And in light of all of this, how insanely futile is it for me to think that any of my own righteous acts, thoughts or deeds could ever earn me anything or give me cause to believe that somehow I deserve anything other than the flames of hell. But through His grace which is beyond human comprehension He not only gives me life but calls me - ME - His very own, through nothing more than faith and even that, faith which He has given in the first place.


How awesome is our God. I could not earn it before, I cannot earn it now but still, still He gives that which I could never hope to earn or deserve.


If you feel unworthy, there is a reason for that: you are, you always were and always shall be. But, take heart! For He knew that already and still He chose to show you mercy and grace without measure or end. Indeed, you are truly blessed.