Category: General Christian Teachings

I have been considering lately that we fail to often emphasize the holiness of God. Most of us do not see holiness as a good topic. In fact, in our day and age, it’s a boring and humdrum topic. The holy almost has a negative connotation to it. We think we have to wash our hands automatically or be wearing only white or not speak a word. Many of us live in a world though of action where things happen and things not explicitly religious and we wonder how holiness plays a part.

Why is it we don’t think about holiness?

There are numerous biblical passages about holiness. In Isaiah 6, the angels before the throne of God sing “Holy, Holy, Holy.” In Leviticus, we are told several times by God to “Be holy, because I am holy.” In Hebrews 12:14, we are told that without holiness, no one will see the Lord, a proposition we ought to take extremely seriously! It seems holiness ranks quite high on God’s list.

Why not on ours?

I thought about this last night reading “Christian Reflections” by C.S. Lewis. I was reading his section “On Ethics” and how he spoke of how when we are poor, we automatically put money on a high list of priorities. When we are ill, we suddenly value health. Now we might value these things otherwise, but we often seem to put a more than usual value on them when they are absent.

I also thought about that afterwards as I was relaxing watching a Smallville as I do many a night and sipping on a Green Tea Ginger Ale, which I am convinced is the nectar of the gods. I thought about how refreshing it was and considered how it is when I am truly absent of a drink for a time and get one that all of a sudden, that taste is there. Many of us have probably picked up a drink wanting that same cool refreshment, and it just isn’t there. However, there are times we could be most aware of the absence and then experience it as we are truly longing for it then.

I think about a friend of mine also as I write this who is struggling with this now in that he wants to live a better life but he just keeps messing up. As I pondered that I would say such this afternoon though, it occurred to me that my friend is in the same boat I and everyone else is in. Unless you are an unfallen angel or unless you are God, and I seriously doubt you are either, then it would seem that you must struggle with holiness in some area. If you are not, then you have a far greater problem than you realize.

And this brings us to our position. We realize we are unholy, but I wonder how much we have realized it. I think my friend is in a great position actually for he realizes his lack. It is indeed, the person who thinks he’s a really good guy and doesn’t need to be concerned with holiness who I would be more concerned with. It is not the person who struggles with sin we ought to be concerned about so much as the person who doesn’t struggle with it.

And yet, we often come to God and I believe we conceal our unholiness. Do we really bring our sins to God? Do we realize that maybe we really need to own up to our sins for truly, they are our sins and they are not his. We need to, in a sense, embrace them and drag them before the throne of God and admit our crime. 

In fact, such is not so much realizing the unholiness of sin as it is realizing the holiness of God. If we say that God cannot use our sins for good, then we are denying Romans 8:28-29 and we are saying that sin is greater than God. We are saying that sin can wreck the divine plan in some way.

If we consider our futures hopeless because of sins we’ve done in the past we’re greatly ashamed of and hope no one ever finds out about, and let us face it, we all have them, then we are also denying him for we are saying his holiness is not enough to overcome the unholiness of us.

In fact, it could be good for us to look those sins straight in the eye and realize them. Only when we realize how unholy they are are we truly ready to approach the throne of God and accept his holiness on our behalf. If we make our sins light, then we can expect to get a light idea of holiness. If we see our sins as divine treason, as I have argued before that they are, and see them as serious cancers that must be eliminated, then we can truly see serious holiness.

Our lack of thinking about holiness is partially because of our thinking about ourselves. We don’t see sin as sin and we don’t often see our need. When we do commit a sin, we suddenly do realize that need, but until then, we are often unaware. Now I am not for a moment suggesting we need to be beating ourselves up for our sins. That is not good for the Christian life. However, we need to see sins as sins and realize that when we do, it does reveal not just a bad action, but an attitude within us that needs to be changed.

We need to see ourselves as unholy in contrast to God and then, only then, do I believe we’ll realize how important holiness is and how much we need him. We need to accept the reality of unholiness.

As I pondered the blog for tonight on the last verses of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, I thought about how we normally view sermons. We view them as exhortations to righteousness and quite often, they are. I believe the Sermon on the Mount is that, but I believe there is something unique about that sermon and it is laid out in these final verses.

Jesus is making a covenant offer to the people as I said at the beginning and letting them know what kingdom people are to be like. In the end, he is challenging his listeners to see if they will be ready to take up that mantle. Are they going to become his followers and thus be kingdom people or are they going to try and go about their lives another way?

The consequences are severe. If there is any aspect in this part that Christ is stressing, it is on how great the fall is if the covenant is not held to. The house may look impressive, but it will not stand. When the day of judgment comes on that house, that house will fall for the foundation could not hold it.

We can have all of our nice little moral theories, but we need a foundation for them. Too often, we treat morality as if it’s just something floating in the air as it were. It has no basis, but we will just take it and go with it. Morality does have a basis though. It is rooted in the eternally existing God. 

Jesus is giving us a choice. We can build up our kingdoms on our own principles or we can build up his kingdom on his principles. Milton’s Satan said it was better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven. Which is our choice? Will we choose to have a kingdom that will take us away from Christ, or will we take part in the kingdom of Christ and be servants in it always?

That’s one of the unique characteristics of Christ. Every worldview has to deal with him in some way. You can write him off as a myth as some atheists do or just make him a good moral teacher or a cynic sage. You can make him simply a prophet like is done in Islam, even if he is given great honor in Islam. You can make him an avatar like in some circles of Hinduism. Every group wants to try to claim Jesus as their own in some way. 

Jesus cannot be a part of someone else’s way. He calls the shots. It is either his way or you don’t go. When we Christians say Jesus is the only way to God, we mean it. Any other attempt to get into Heaven on one’s own terms is an attempt to usurp the throne of God.

Christ has made a proclamation in the Sermon on the Mount. We dare not write this off as simple moral advice on how to live. Yes. There is morality all throughout the Sermon. The Sermon though is a challenge. It is a challenge to come and follow Christ. There is no neutral ground to reply on. We either say “Yes, that is how I choose to live” or “No, that is not how I choose to live.”

Christ has told us the consequences of each. The question we must ask is “Is he telling the truth or not?” If he is, then the wisest thing to do is follow him. If you think he’s not though, then you’d better be right!

Tonight, we’re going to look at false prophets in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gives quite a strong warning and I think when we look at this, we’re going to have to keep in mind the passages in Deuteronomy that relate to this. Jesus says these prophets will come like sheep in appearance, but they are really ravenous wolves.

So note this before we even get to the passages. Those that are false could be mistaken for the real things easily. I say this because I’ve been thinking about this text and I’m going to give an interpretation of the fruit aspect of this that I don’t think is usually given probably because we’ve grown up so much with a certain understanding that we’ve never come to consider it.

The passages I have in mind are Deuteronomy 18 and Deuteronomy 13. I put the later one first since it deals with the first criteria I want to deal with. In verses 19-22, we are given a test on how to recognize a false prophet. One way is that if the prophet prophecies something and it does not come true, then that is a false prophet. 

Note this does take into consideration the conditional nature of some prophecies, such as Jonah’s preaching to the Ninevites. Some prophecy is given with the hopes that people will respond and if they do, then God does not give the judgment that he would give. This is, in fact, what he tells Ezekiel about prophecy. Ezekiel 33 is an example of such a passage. 

This is one reason I have for rejecting the Watchtower as an organization that claims to be a prophet. They have predicted the end of the world too many times and been wrong every single time for me to believe that they have the guidance of God. Now some of you might be wondering if that’s my only criteria? It’s not, but that criteria is good enough.

The other passage is in Deuteronomy 13. In this case, the prophet comes and what he says does come true and then he says “Let’s go and worship other gods.” That is not a prophet from God. This is another way that I reject the Watchtower in that the God of Arianism is a far cry from the God of Christianity. 

This is also a reason I have for rejecting Mormonism. (One among many.) Their doctrine of God is not rationally consistent. It’s a polytheistic concept of a god who is not eternal and cannot then have the omni-attributes that the God of Christianity has. This is a more complex argument that can be fleshed out elsewhere and if I need to do another blog on that, I will gladly do so another time.

So now we get to the passage about knowing them by their fruit. What kind of fruit are we talking about? Too often, we might turn to Galatians 5 and look at the fruit of the Spirit. I don’t think that’s what Jesus is talking about. If one has the Spirit, one should see the fruit that the Spirit produces. Instead, this is talking about the fruit of a prophet. What will be the fruit of a true prophet? 

Notice also then what the false prophets on that day say they have done? Can anyone point to a bad deed listed in there? I can’t. Jesus says though that not only do those not matter, but that those people are lawbreakers and he never knew them. They claimed to do many acts in his name, but as Deuteronomy 18 says, someone can act presumptuously in the name of God or be out and right lying even.

We’ve too often said it’s about morality. Now I believe a true belief will produce good morality, but because something produces good morality, that doesn’t mean it’s true. I think many atheists are good people. I think many Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are. Many Christians are also of course. On the other hand, I sadly think many Christians are people that can be quite unChristlike in their demeanor. 

That doesn’t mean all of those beliefs are true or that Christianity is even partly true just because some Christians are jerks. It also doesn’t seem to be what Jesus is talking about because if he was talking about “True prophets will produce good actions,” then why does he go and condemn all those prophets who have good actions? 

In our day and age, we ought to be moral people, but we also ought to be on guard. When someone shows up with a different gospel, be cautious. The sad thing is we don’t recognize a different gospel often. Paul warned about this in 2 Cor. 11 where he even said that those who are false do come and seem to have goodness all about them. Their source is not good though.

What’s the antidote to this? Proper study and good Christian living. We need to be in our Bibles, in our books, and on our knees.

As we continue on the Sermon on the Mount, we hear Christ telling us that if we ask, we will receive. If we seek, we will find. If we knock, the door will be opened. This must be kept in mind with praying that the will of God be done as in the Lord’s prayer and the seeking of the kingdom of Heaven first. It doesn’t mean that if you pray for a new ferrari, you’re going to get one. Jesus is building on what he’s already said and assuming that you will be having the attitude of prayer earlier discussed.

He points to the generosity of God though in saying God will not give gifts that are not in accordance though with what the children desire if their desires are in the right. No father would give a child wanting bread a stone nor would he give a serpent when the child wants a fish. Even if he just wants food, the father will surely give him something edible.

Jesus points out that if people being evil give good gifts, how much more will God? Notice also that Jesus says “you” being evil. He is not including himself. As in other places in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus disassociates himself from humanity in this regards. One example given is in the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus tells us to pray “Our Father,” but he never collectively prays that prayer with us. We are children of the Father by adoption. He is the Son of the Father by nature.

The point is that we should be persistent in prayer. We should keep asking. I keep a mental list that I go through each night including my friends in ways of their lifestyles and attitudes, the blessing of certain friends,  I pray for conversion for others, and I pray for healing in some cases. For myself, I generally pray for my own attitude and holy living and if any other thing is added consistently by me, I pray for a special lady in my life to come along soon. 

Considering though how God acts towards us, Christ then gives us the golden rule. This has been found in a negative way throughout much of history, but Christ gives us the positive. We are to go out and to do to others as we would like them to do unto you. It is not enough to simply avoid harming others. We must do something good on their behalf.

Interestingly, there is a story of a proselyte who was interested in becoming a Jew and would only become a Jew if he could find a teacher who could tell him the message of the Law and the Prophets while he stood on one foot. When he got to Rabbi Hillel, the rabbi said to him “What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to them. This is the Law and the Prophets. All the rest is commentary. Go and learn.”

This would most likely be Jesus’s own reply to what was said. Hillel did not go far enough. God’s generosity towards us is rich. We also ought to be generous to one another. How about you? Are you being generous to your fellow man?

There was a day and age when the most quoted Bible verse by people was John 3:16. Today, it’s Matthew 7:1. How many times do I hear “Christans aren’t supposed to judge!” Little problem people. It’s impossible to avoid making any judgments whatsoever. In fact, you judged that it was worth your time today to read this blog. (I hope you will judge it worth your time to continue reading.)

Here are some examples of other judgments you make.

Chances are, you lock your doors at night because you judge that there are evil people out there who wouldn’t mind wishing you harm in some way.

Chances are, you interview babysitters before they sit your kids because you want to judge whether they will take care of your kids or not.

Chances are, you don’t marry the first person you see because you want to date them to judge if you want to spend your life with them.

Every day you are making numerous judgments. It can’t be avoided! In fact, if you’re a Christian and you complain that someone is judging, are you not judging that person as being judgmental? Have you not made your own judgment on them. Notice I’m not saying that that’s wrong. I’m just saying that’s what you’re doing.

Now some of you might be wondering, “Well Jesus said judge not lest you be judged, but you’re saying that we should go on and judge any way? Then you’re throwing out what Jesus said?”

It’s a valid point. If we say “Any and all judging is permissible,” then that is exactly what we are doing. However, notice what Jesus says next though. He tells us that we will be judged by the standard we judge others. What I believe he is telling us to avoid is hypocrtical judging, the kind that sees a speck in a brother’s eye while we have a log in our own.

I also believe this is a statement against pre-judging. Many of us can have our own prejudices that we have to work out and it might not just be racial. You might think, for instance, that someone who drinks alcohol can’t be a truly devoted Christian. There is a story about a professor at a Bible College who went to see C.S. Lewis and when he came back his students wanted to know all about it. He told them “Well, he drinks wine and he smokes a cigar, but I think he’s saved.”

Maybe some of us need to get past some stereotypes of what a Christian is and what one isn’t. There are some beliefs even that it might be wrong for you to do and not someone else. Romans 14 and 1 Cor. 8-10 tells us this. I, for instance, do not drink alcohol. I have no desire to do so. It doesn’t mean though that I impugn on those who do. I just ask that they make sure they control their alcohol instead of their alcohol controlling them.

As an intellectual, and I believe Lewis spoke of this in his writings, it’s hard to think of some people truly enjoying the Christian life if they’re not intellectual. However, Lewis reminded us that while that little old lady might not know the Chalcedonian Creed, chances are she has you whipped entirely in prayer and her holiness puts you to shame. This is a prejudice that I do have to work with. I can’t see my brothers and sisters who don’t jump into the intellectual arena as living less Christian lives. Now I will say if they are anti-intellectual, I have a problem, but I think of many like my own mother for instance, who could not read a book on apologetics at all, but she can sure sing in church and she definitely supports me!

I’ll also say that in most cases, I don’t think we’re to judge on salvation. Now if you have the atheist or the Mulsim or the Hindu who isn’t repentant and who is living in a worldview that contradicts the gospel, yeah. If you have a Christian who is struggling with sin though, it’s really not your call to make. Interestingly, in the Calvinist/Arminian debate, both sides could say something about a Christian who is living in sin.

Calvinist-Never saved to begin with.

Arminian-Lost it.

If such is what is being said, then it seems the person is losing out anyway. Still, I don’t see this as something to judge. I have good friends who I believe are Christians but are struggling with a lot in their lives. I take their struggle as evidence of their Christianity as they know that they have work to do and want to live lives pleasing to God.

Judging though is essential and it could be it’s not accepted in our world because we’ve become a society driven by tolerance where we’re afraid of speaking the truth lest it offend someone and we must treat all worldviews as equal. Some ideas are wrong though and some are right. We have all right to judge them. Of course, we might watch the tone whereby we judge them, but we judge them nonetheless.

Anxiety is a funny thing. Now I’m not talking about simple concern. Some anxiety I think is good. It builds up an awareness that there are some dangerous things in the world and some things you should avoid. I don’t think it’s a sin, for instance, for a girl to not want to walk down a dark alley at night alone. (For that matter, I don’t think many guys should do that either.) 

As we go through the Sermon on the Mount though, we are at the part about anxiety. Jesus tells us at the end of Matthew 6 to not worry. I don’t believe he’s talking about caution and concern though. Those are good things. Caution keeps us from doing many stupid things and concern can often be what drives us to prayer.

Neither of those leave God out of the equation.

Worry does.

Worry is assuming that things will not go right and there is no solution and it’s hopeless. We’re odd creatures really. We all tend to spend so much time worrying. It never helps the situation in any way. It doesn’t help us get closer to a problem. It in fact hinders us from solving a problem because our mind is in a state of fear instead of rationality.

How many times have you been worrying about something and afraid and simply a conversation with a friend who may not have even had some brilliant insight you wouldn’t have got from anyone else has helped you out? If you’re like me, it’s happened several times. Even if you don’t have the “problem solved” for some reason, you realize how silly you’re being.

Christ tells us not to worry. God is in the habit of taking care of his creation. Look at birds. They don’t store up in nests, but yet, they get cared for. Look at lilies in the field. They are more beautiful than the richest king of all in their appearance, and yet, they will be thrown into the fire tomorrow. Yet they get clothed!

Aren’t you worth more than these?

We need to remember that in Christian thought, humans are more valuable. Now I’m a cat lover. Many guys aren’t, but I am. We have a cat outside our apartment and I felt so sorry for the little fellow yesterday as it was raining and I heard him meowing as soon as I got out of my car. I could only pet him. I couldn’t do anything else. 

Yet as much as I might adore a cat and want to help them out, I also have to remember that on God’s chain, I am more important. This is something to all the animal rights’ activists that we have today. In our environmental concerns, we often want to try to treat everything as equal and if you think humans are better, you’re a speciesist.

Of course, this doesn’t discount the goodness of these things. These things are not on the level of humanity. We are the rulers of the creation. We are not to abuse it, but we are to use it. Creation serves us. We do not serve it. Christ would have us keep something like that in mind in remembering that if creation can trust that it will be provided for, shouldn’t we?

He’s right also. Worrying will not make the problem go away and it misses a reality. God knows what we need. As I write this, I have to keep this in mind.  I have bills for school and bills for the dentist and for a short time, I’m going to be between jobs. Part of me enjoys it though as it means that now I have to rely on God more and I have to trust him more. 

Instead, I am to seek the kingdom. If I am seeking God, then what have I to fear? Those who truly seek, do truly find. I found myself telling a friend something similar tonight. We have to want truth. We have to want reality. We have to want it on God’s terms and not ours. Too often, we want to act as if the world functioned according to our wishes. We can’t. It doesn’t. We have to realize this is God’s world and not ours.

Worry not Christian. Trust in God. He knows the beginning from the end. Remember that all things will work together for good to those that love him. If that’s true, and you love him, what have you to really worry about?

In New York on Black Friday, a man working at a Wal-Mart died when impatient shoppers trampled over him as the doors were opened in a rush to get at many of the deals they wanted. When attempts were made to evacuate the store by telling shoppers that someone had died, they just kept right on shopping.

There are areas where malls are going to be open at midnight on Thanksgiving night and many people will skip Thanksgiving just because they want to be able to get in on some deals earlier. In past years, people have been murdered just because they had a Playstation 3.

Interesting that a blog on Jesus’s question of where your treasure is comes just after Black Friday.

Have we lost sight of what this season is all about?

Now I’ve got a wish list for Christmas of course, but as I get older, it gets harder and harder. I just really can’t think of a lot of things that I want. It truly is more for me now about going home and seeing my family again. My folks now tell me that they just don’t have a lot. My grandmother now in assisted living says she wishes she could buy for me like she used to. I tell them all not to worry about it. It really doesn’t matter.

However, it is hard for us sometimes when we get caught up in possessions. I won’t deny this truth. I like having money in the bank. When I get a paycheck and cash it, I really enjoy it. One aspect I do enjoy about my new upcoming job change is that I will be making more money. Now that isn’t the main thing, but it certainly is a very nice aspect.

Is that wrong? I don’t think it is really. Money is essential in the world today. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make money. It’s when money has a hold on you that there’s a problem. If you’re rich, for instance, and you don’t give to charity but are rather a miser with what you have, then there is a problem.

I have a friend who is actually wealthy and she will tell me that she bought a bunch of pizzas just because the money will go to cancer research and then say “You and your roommate are welcome to any of it you want. Just come over and get it.” This friend went all out for me on my birthday last year and I was most appreciative. 

This is one reason I like books so much. You don’t really collect books for the sake of the books. You collect books for the information that is in them. It’s a want of something greater than you. It’s a thirst for truth. Truth is one of the great transcendentals, the other two being goodness and beauty. Books are a key to that.

For some people, I realize the battle with possessions though will be much harder. There’s no wrong in having stuff. There’s a wrong in stuff having you. If you had to, could you part with a lot of the things you have? Where does your happiness really lie? Does it lie in the things you have or does it lie in the truth of God?

I had a friend back in my hometown who he and I would go out to a bookstore regularly. He’s spend Most of his money if not all on stuff that he just HAD TO HAVE! Meanwhile, I’d see maybe one or two books and I’d buy them and that’d be it for me. I had a budget. Inevitably, he’d call me a couple of days later and say he was bored. Meanwhile, I was renting my own place and not having as much free money to spend and having the time of my life.

There’s something joyful on living on little.

Jesus tells us that our treasure is to be in Heaven. He’s not against having things on Earth. We’re just to remember that this isn’t our eternal resting place. Build up treasures which would include virtuous living and the quest for truth.

Keep that in mind this Christmas. The gifts are nice and I try to give generously as well, but ultimately, let’s remember this Christmas that it’s all about the one gift that God gave to us.

Some manuscripts don’t have this last line of the Lord’s Prayer. For our purposes though, we’re going to include it in here to conclude a look at the Lord’s prayer. The conclusion serves to remind us of what the whole point is. Everything that has been said in the prayer at this point comes to a conclusion reminding us that it’s all about Him.

It’s really easy to lose sight of. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever read from a friend was that when you get complimented, smile, enjoy it for awhile, and then say “Let’s keep going. We have work to do.” It’s sometimes really good to be in this ministry and hear a lot of good things. I think everyone enjoys hearing compliments. We all need them at times too. We just have to remember that it’s not about us.

In fact, I think that’s why God chooses the shameful of the world. That way, no one can look and say that those who succeed in his cause did it because of how excellent and awesome they were. I do believe many who serve are blessed, but they also have certain disadvantages. They’re not the ones you’d expect.

Lee Strobel interviews J.P. Moreland in the Case for Christ who says that this needs to be considered with the early church. If you were an alien who was watching Earth and saw the early church, a ragtag group of ordinary civilians, going against the Roman Empire, a vast network of nations with armed soldiers, and saw that the soldiers were repeatedly taking the ragtag people and throwing them to lions and lighting them on fire and crucifying them and the people weren’t fighting back, you’d start making bets on the Roman Empire.

Yet today, our sons are named Peter and Paul and our dogs are named Nero and Caesar.

Look at the nations that God could have chosen to send his Son through. You had the Babylonians, a mighty empire that gave us much information on astronomy and trigonometry. There were the Egyptians. Could you find a better group of builders to build such massive works as the pyramids and the sphinx? There were the Phoenicians who developed the precursor to our alphabet today. There were the Greeks that later grew into a nation that gave us our philosophical categories we use today.

Instead, this group wandering in the Middle East descended from some really old guy were chosen.

A famous poem once went, “How odd of God to choose the Jews.”

It then went, “But odder still are those who reject whom God chose.”

In our stories, we often forget that we’re ultimately minor characters. I don’t even care if you were the apostle Paul. Compared to the work of God, what you do is minor. You are simply living out the role that you were fashioned for. There could have been someone else to write the epistles if not Paul. There could not have been someone else to die on the cross.

And yet, we are given the advantage of playing in this story. Yes. It’s an advantage. To serve is a gift. Many of us if we were given the chance to work at our dream job would relish the offer. Imagine if your boss was entirely generous though. He understood you and when you screwed up, he forgave you when you admitted it. He watched out for you and made sure to give you a great retirement plan. All he asked was that you do what you can. 

That’s what we’re told to do.

Peter Kreeft once said that apologetics is as close as you come to saving the world. I often think of something like that. I think of reading one of the Smallville story books and how Clark Kent described super-speeding through Metropolis to save his then-friend Lex Luthor and realizing that each second he chose to go after Lex, someone else was suffering who he couldn’t help. Not even Superman can save everyone.

Sometimes when I’ve driven past houses, I’ve wondered what’s going on inside of them. Maybe there’s a teenage girl in there who just found out she’s pregnant and wonders how she’ll tell her parents. Maybe a husband is contemplating suicide because he doesn’t think he’s doing enough for his family and figures they’re better off on life insurance. Maybe a son is wanting to go to college but there’s no way to pay the tuition. What all is going on?

And each person you meet has a story going on.

It’s been said that Philo once said “Be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”

Would anyone deny that?

Yet somehow, across space and time, all these stories are weaving together. I think of the friends that I’ve made, for instance, and this largely through the use of the internet, who I’ve come to know that I never would have known about if I had lived even fifty years earlier. Stories are weaving more and more as we become a global society.

And yet, the master weaver is still weaving the threads together.

Rest assured also, the story is about him, and it’s for his glory, and he knows how to bring it to a good end.

Are you going to join in that good end?

Some texts have that this is to deliver us from the evil one. Frankly, I’m going to stick to deliver us from evil since I think delivering us from evil would include delivering us from the evil one. The line before this one was on avoiding temptation. Nevertheless, through no fault of our own at times, evil can come into our lives.

This should help defeat the idea prevalent in today’s circles that all suffering we experience is the result of our sin. I find it amazing that this is one idea in the Bible that God specifically condemns in the book of Job in telling his friends that they hadn’t spoken rightly of him. Jesus deals with it also in John 9 and Luke 13. You’d think after those texts, we’d get the lesson.

Unfortunately, we haven’t.

By the way, if all that a person suffers is a result of their sin, what does that say about the suffering of Christ?

I also believe though that this could refer to suffering from non-moral agents such as natural disasters or sicknesses. We are asking God to keep us safe from things that will tempt us, but to help us be safe from damaging forces out there. There is nothing wrong with wanting to avoid suffering. If a tornado is coming your way, it’s not spiritual to go seek it out and stand in its path daring it to come get you.

While it’s fine to want to avoid suffering, when it does come, there is a proper attitude for it. Now it could be you might think you’re being punished for something and you need to repent. Here’s a good rule of thumb. If you’re doing something wrong, repent anyway. In fact, this was Christ’s message in Luke 13 to the disasters that happened from both moral and non-moral agents. Repent.

In speaking about moral agents also, let Christians always be aware that there are evil forces out there. I am not a pacifist and think I often have to remind some people of this. There are people that will not gladly lay down their arms and sing “Kum-bu-Yah” with you. There are some who see the only way of dealing with enemies to be to kill them. There are times then that we will have to deal nationally with such moral agents. 

For us though, we should pray that we be protected from those who wish us harm. This must have been a common prayer of the early church that frequently had to deal with persecution and one can picture it happening in the persecuted church today. If you’re in an area where you are free to be a Christian largely unhindered by the society around you, count yourself blessed. See that Bible gathering dust that you have nearby? There are many people who would risk their lives just to get a copy of that book.

For the Christian then, evil is a reality. We do not deny its existence. We do not call it an illusion or maya. We admit that it is real and we need to avoid it. We also realize that there are some evils that might require direct intervention from God. The most noted kind of evil though is one we might not think about, and that’s dying apart from Christ.

True deliverance from evil will only come when we get to Heaven. In justification, we are delivered from the penalty of sin. Through sanctification, we are delivered from the power of sin. When we get to Heaven, we will be delivered from the presence of sin. It all happens when the kingdom of God becomes fully manifested.

Which happens to be the next line we’ll look at when we continue this series.

Alright. I don’t know much about computers, but I am a huge LOLcats fan and in my daily email this morning, I got this which is quite ironic for the very blog I’m doing tonight.

<a href=”http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/11/24/funny-pictures-not-into-temptashun-is-can-find-it-myself/”><img class=”mine_2491213″ title=”funny-pictures-cat-can-find-temptation-himself” src=”http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/funny-pictures-cat-can-find-temptation-himself.jpg” alt=”funny pictures of cats with captions” /></a><br />more <a href=”http://icanhascheezburger.com”>animals</a>

And for the one I did yesterday….

<a href=”http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/11/25/funny-pictures-us-dis-dai-r-daily-bred/”><img class=”mine_2508276″ title=”funny-pictures-cat-prays-for-bread-with-cheese-and-burger” src=”http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/funny-pictures-cat-prays-for-bread-with-cheese-and-burger.jpg” alt=”funny pictures of cats with captions” /></a><br />more <a href=”http://icanhascheezburger.com”>animals</a>

The first one does fit what we usually think about temptation. We can find it ourselves thank you very much. Notice that we are told to not be led into sin though. We are told to not be led into temptation. Now obviously, we know from James that God doesn’t tempt us. He tests us, but he does not tempt us.

Tempting is meant to lead us into evil. Testing is meant to show us to ourselves. However, God does ALLOW temptation to occur. Even in that though, we have the biblical promise that we are never tempted beyond what we can bear. Some of us can handle temptations others couldn’t. There are some things that tempt me that would never tempt you and vice-versa.

We should also be keeping careful watch over ourselves to make sure we don’t stumble. I meet many a young man who struggles with internet porn as an example. I have offered myself as an accountability partner to them and this is also done through such organizations as XXXchurch and others which offer help to those struggling with pornography on the internet.

I even have a friend online who keeps me accountable for something some of you might consider silly, but I see it as important. He helps me to make sure that I am reading regularly when I ought instead of spending all of my days off goofing off entirely. Ironically, I’ve found that when I devote some time to reading, it seems I have more time for everything else.

In avoiding sin though, I do have some of my own requirements. I’ve stated before, for instance, that I would never bring a girl back to my apartment if it was just the two of us or even if my roommate was here. He might step out for awhile and temptation would definitely kick in. Some of you might be wondering “Are you the kind of guy that would give in to temptation under that circumstance?” Frankly, I don’t want to find out.

Of course, if it was some group thing like a church gathering, I wouldn’t have those restrictions at my place, but I find them helpful. One sure way to give in to temptation I think is to think that you wouldn’t give into it. Why push your luck? There are safe places you can go with the opposite sex where it will be less likely to give in and there can be much joy in the idea of group dating. 

Why avoid temptation though ultimately? Because temptation when given into results in sin and all sin leads us away from God. While the former request of daily bread asks God to sustain our physical needs, this one is about spiritual needs. This one is asking us to not only have God be a reminder to us of our dependance on him day to day, but also that he is keeping an eye on us spiritually lest we fall.

Lord. Lead us not into temptation. We dare not fall from you.