Deeper Waters

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.

We all think forgiveness is a great idea. We just think other people should try it instead. 

Let’s start with it from why forgiveness is so incredible. In “The Weight of Glory”, C.S. Lewis has an essay where he speaks of how when we often say “Forgive us our sins” to God, we really mean “Please excuse our sins.” There is a huge difference between the two and maybe one reason we don’t really appreciate forgiveness is that we do see it as excusing instead.

Now many times in a moment of weakness, some of us could succoumb to certain sins. Let me be clear on this also. If someone does succoumb to such a sin and asks forgiveness from the church, we need to forgive them and we need to keep in mind the biblical command of seventy times seven. However, we also need to be working with them to help them avoid that sin.

However, let us suppose we give in and confess to God. How many of us are prone also to explain why we did so? Lewis tells us that if there are circumstances that are extreme, God knows about them. He could not treat a sin for one the same as he would for another simply because of different temperaments. Why bother listing excuses though why God should just overlook the sin? Do we think we know one God doesn’t know?

God doesn’t overlook our sins though. We’d be grateful for just that if he did. However, he does something far better. He treats them as if they’re not there. He cleans the record entirely. He doesn’t hold a slate of our sins over our head and say “See? I’m just going to ignore this.” He takes the slate of our sins and dashes it to pieces.

It makes me wonder why I look at past sins as a reality that I still need to confess at times when I can picture God saying “Haven’t we already got past this?”

However, the hard part comes after God forgives us. We’re called to forgive others.

You mean if my ex who abused me asks for forgiveness, I’m to do it?

Yes.

You mean my father who left me and Mom alone with all of my siblings? If he comes to me for forgiveness, I’m to do it?

Yes.

You mean that drunk driver who killed my daughter in a car accident? If he comes to me for forgiveness, I’m to do it?

Yes.

You mean my ex-boyfriend who slept with my ex-best friend? If he comes to me for forgiveness, I’m to do it?

Yes.

Note this. I don’t think you should give forgiveness until they ask. I think you should be in a spirit of forgiveness though. Note also that forgiveness does not necessarily mean consequences of some sins go away. I think we should forgive someone in jail who repents, but that does not mean they don’t serve the time still. If that happened, we can be sure every prisoner in jail would “repent.” Keep in mind God did the same. He took away David’s sin, but David’s son still died. 

Still, you are to forgive. If you don’t forgive, it is to be seen as a sign that you haven’t received forgiveness. Yes. They did something terrible. Yes. They deserve to suffer. Yes. You have all right to be angry.

But couldn’t God say the same to you?

And didn’t he forgive you?

Then you ought to forgive one another.

There’s a lot of debate about this portion as it’s my understanding that the Greek isn’t entirely crystal-clear. That is an area of discussion for the Greek scholars. I am not one. However, I will tell things as I see them in that I think all would agree that this part of the Lord’s Prayer is talking about trusting God for our sustenance. 

It’s interesting how our society has shifted. I considered just now over this that this is the only place in the Lord’s prayer where it talks about provision for physical needs. For many of us today, this has become the main thing. How much talk went on in our last election about the economy? Yet you take a work like Plato’s Republic and there is only one paragraph dealing with the economy in there.

There cannot be a denial of physical needs as Jesus makes clear later on in this chapter at verse 24. He tells us not to worry and points to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. God takes care of them. Won’t he take care of you? Consider how Luke 12:32 tells us in fact that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. If only we could realize the truth of these passages and embrace them!

The need was to be supplied I believe on a day to day basis. Of course, this made sense in a society where most people were day-wage earners. If you wanted to be fed that day, you went to work. This doesn’t have anything against our principle of saving up resources as we now live in an age of safety-deposit boxes.

Still, even in our day and age, we must remember that all that we have comes from God. As Jesus told Pilate, he would not have that authority unless it came from above. As I look around me, I must remember that all that I have is a gift of God. It’d be tempting to go into my room and look at all the books and talk about the mass library of information I’ve built up, but I honestly have to look at them and thank God that he’s allowed me to have this blessing. Let’s remember what happened when King Nebuchadnezzar went on his roof and spoke of how great his kingdom was.

Notice also that God does care about physical needs. Our souls are important friends, but our bodies are too! I recently spoke with a friend of mine on the phone and we were talking about girls and he said “Well, I don’t want to talk about looks because that’s shallow.” I had to correct him. There is nothing shallow about a guy wanting a beautiful girl. God made them beautiful for a reason. There is something shallow in that being the only criteria that matters, but being attractive is important in finding a spouse. To say the physical body doesn’t matter is not a Christian position but a gnostic one, one of the first heresies the church had to deal with. 

In fact, if we tell someone to be of good cheer but don’t help their physical needs in any way, then we are not being Christian. The motto of Booth, founder of the Salvation army was “Soup, Soap, Salvation.” First you fed the people. Then you cleaned them. After that, you told them about Jesus. It has to be that order.

This part of the prayer is to humble us and remind us that all the good we have comes from God. He supplies us on a day to day basis and that’s the day we need to live in, today. Too many of us spend our time living in yesterday or tomorrow. Today is the time where we are living and God is just as much here as he is anywhere. Let’s live today and count on him to supply our needs.

My absentmindedness kicked in last night readers. I’ve had a lot going on and a lot on my mind. A new job, the details of which I do not wish to mention, is among them and I will be starting that next month. I simply ask for your prayers in this endeavor as I look forward to it, but as with any change, there is much fear on my part with hopes that I can do it well and fulfill my duties diligently.

I realized as I was reading last night after I signed off that in my zeal in writing about the will of God, I had left out the second part. If the reader has yet to read the blog before this one, I urge them to go and read that one. Naturally, you can read more of the earlier blogs if you so desire, but I strongly suggest at least reading that earlier one.

I said in an earlier blog also that if the world followed the Sermon on the Mount, we would have the heavenly kingdom. That is also what is being addressed here. May God’s will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. God already has several agents that follow his every command flawlessly and live in perfect alignment. We call them angels. 

Angels aren’t really talked about much these days. We either get the idea of “Touched by an Angel” or we get the idea of beings flying through the clouds and playing harps. Angels are quite different in Scripture. They are beings one is tempted to bow down and worship and they are warriors that are capable of taking many lives.

The great authority on angels in the medieval period was Thomas Aquinas who was called the Angelic Doctor. Contrary to belief, the medievals never asked how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, although this is certainly an important question. (It’s my understanding that the answer to the question is 42.)

Of course, this isn’t meant to be a blog on angels. I’m really not knowledgable enough on the subject to speak from authority on them, but anyone interested can go check the works of Aquinas and for a modern perspective on it, I recommend the works of Peter Kreeft on angels.  They are a fascinating subject to study and like our view of God in modern Christianity, it would behoove us to return to the past view of angels.

Yet for all their glory and being so much more intelligent and powerful than us, they still have the same message. Worship God. As great as they are, God is much greater. They follow his will aside from those that rebelled. While they are still angels, I do not see them as part of the heavenly kingdom but the fallen kingdom.

What if we were more angelic?

When we pray for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, I believe we are asking for that. We are asking to be united in serving God as the angels are, and in that realm, there is no sin. God’s moral will and God’s sovereign will always come to pass. 

The way to start bringing about that kingdom is to submit to his moral will today. Are you doing that? Are you being angelic in submitting to God’s will today?