Crossing Paths, Endless Paths...

 

 

God revealed to me today that Christians all walk a path.  Each path is unique.  These truths I have shared with you in messages prior.  However, the new revelation is that this path is also unending.  It is an eternal walk and we do not walk alone.  Death is not the end of the path.  After death the true believer transitions from mortal human and sinful existence to immortal life in heaven.

 

The pace increases after our mortal life and our sinful life are ended.  We might view sin as both the heavy burden strapped to our back and as a confusing trail.  In our mortal life we sin, we all sin, every one of us.  Only one human who ever walked the Earth was without sin and that was Earthly human form of Jesus.  Our sins cause both Earthly pain to us, our friends, and our loved ones.  Our sins also sadden God, though he expects them.  Even very good Christians are rife with daily sins whether they admit them or not, they cannot help it it's been our nature since the time of Adam and Eve.  Without repentence and redemption through Christ our sins would result in eternal torment in Hell.  A humans path is endless for believers and non believers too, though they head in opposite directions.

 

Sin slows our progress. Even sinful thoughts slow our progress along the Christian path.  Sin is part of the Devil's plan to impede us or even send us to be lost in the wilderness and never find our path again.  Along our path we will intersect with others.  Believe it or not all people are walking amongst the wilderness.  Some are following the Christian path and some are not.  Although you and I both dear reader might be on the Christian path it is not necessarily the same path.  You will cross paths with other Christians and sometimes with nonbelievers.

 

Some you encounter have just begun their Christian journey.   Newborn Christians are prone to error, they sometimes say and do things that are not in keeping with Christian life but they believe in God and that Jesus died for their sins and they want to improve. Wanting to improve and showing evidence of improvement are important indicators, many upon the Earth claim to be Christians but have not truly accepted the Holy Spirit.  They talk the talk but do not walk the walk.  You can see evidence from their actions and interactions with others.  Sometimes we can invite them to walk with us for a spell so they might grow and learn from our experiences and our witness.  Keeping in mind though that their path is not necessarily your path.  Newborn Christians should be encouraged to read the Bible and learn as much as they can.

 

Some you encounter along the path have been on it longer than you, I call them the wise.  The wise Christians have been down the dead ends and they know where those trails lead.  They have made mistakes and grown and learned from them.  As living, sinful, humans, they are still lugging the pack of sin upon their back.  Even the wise are not unerring and they too bear the burden of daily sin.  If you look closely though you may notice that the wise read their Bible's much more than the newborn Christians.  For the wise know that along the path we are sometimes attacked by the Devil or his minions the fallen angels.  God's elect Angels also are tasked with our protection and occasionally they do battle the demons (fallen angels) of Satan.  However our first and last line of defense from Satan is the word of God.  The wise know that the more they are rooted in the word the more heavily armored and armed they are to combat evil forces. (in Daniel Chapter 9 you can read about an epic battle between the Angel Gabriel and a demon known as "the prince of Persia".  The angel Michael assisted Gabriel in defeating the demon.)

 

Demons are actually fallen angels.

 

 

For a Christian the word of God is the first line of defense.

The final person you may find on your path are unbelievers.  Contact with these people is not a trivial matter.  Many of you may notice that your friends and coworkers are unbelievers.  Perhaps they have never heard the truth of the word or perhaps they have been mislead into following false religions.  You befriend these people at your own peril for they can tempt you from your Christian walk.  The Devil has been known to utilize unbelievers because unlike Christians they are extremely vulnerable soft targets because they have no armor and no sword (the holy spirit and the word of God).  The focus of your interaction with unbelievers should be to witness to them your Christian experience.  If you are a newborn Christian it is highly advisable to enlist the help of one of the wise when interacting with unbelievers if possible.  Ideally invite them to Church with you.  As Christians we are tasked with spreading the Good News of mankind's salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus.

 

In other words if you are spending time with unbelievers do not be tempted to their ways but instead focus your efforts on sharing your witness about how God changed your life.  If they are a close friend you should ask yourself how you would feel if they were in an accident and died without ever hearing your testimony.  We do not have the power to bring people to God because as humans we are creatures of sin and have no good within us.  The only good is God, only He has the power to save souls.  So share your witness and your testimony of how God has worked in your life.

My latest Reading project.

I was discussing the Bible with my in-laws the other day and I mentioned I really needed a companion book to go with my Bible that kind of illuminated many of the events and more importantly ideas presented there.

My mother 'n' law (whom I call Mom) lent me this massive hardbound trove. The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary. I don't think the book is meant to be read from beginning to end but that is in fact what I am I doing.

So far I am finding the book fascinating and difficult to put down. I admit its size is daunting, many times the size of my NIV bible, however it's filled with beautiful illustrations and wonderful insights.

The book is laid out very much like the Bible with a chapter dedicated to each book of the Bible. In other words the book starts in Genesis and finishes in Revelations.

I will be the first to admit that I have often read a passage in the Bible and not really grasped its importance or even its underlying meaning all the time. Sometimes I have to read a passage and mull it around for awhile. Sometimes a given passage will mean one thing to me one day and then months or years later have a different meaning to me.

One thing is sure, the Bible, is the most amazing book I have ever read. You could read it a lifetime and still learn something new every time you open it.

This commentary helps bring the Bible to life and illustrates the scope and dimension that few people ever really find when they read the Bible. I started reading two days ago and have made it to Deuteronomy.  Through my Bible and this Commentary I have watched the birth of our world and followed the travails of the Jewish people.  Followed God's miracles as he and mankind struggle to develop a relationship.

It's powerful stuff and highlights just how amazing the Bible really is.  At some point in your Christian faith you will begin to really want to know every aspect of what is written in your Bible.  The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary can help.  I give it two hearty thumbs up.

Find Grace Amidst Strife

Most problems in life are little more than speed bumps.  They can seem all consuming in the present but in time are generally forgotten.  Why do we let them derail us so completely.

 

Have you ever seen someone run into a little problem and they completely lose composure.  For some the problems of the moment affect them for hours or even days later.  Some mistakes in life cause temporary consequences and some cause long term consequences.  The sage knows to feel the emotion proportional to the situation.

 

Not all mistakes are sins and sometimes serious sins seem to have no consequence at all, at least in this life.  For example break your significant others favorite coffee cup on accident.  Not a sin, yet could cause an upsetting conversation or other consequences.  Covet your neighbors car and his way of life and you are in fact sinning.  Yet who are you hurting?

 

Well the truth is you are hurting yourself.  When you covet another you are not living your own life.  We have blessings all about us yet we can be so focused on something that doesn't belong to us that we lose sight of what's important.

 

To me the greatest mistakes are the ones that not only hurt us but other people as well.  A person drinks and drives and causes an accident that kills an innocent family.  That is a huge mistake!  A sin as well.

 

Yet even this atrocious act can and would be forgiven by God through the sacrifice his son Jesus made on the cross.  So let's say this drunken killer begs forgiveness and is forgiven.  What should he do?  Should he change his life, stop drinking, make amends to the surviving friends and family?  Without question the answer is yes.  He should first beg God's forgiveness, then forgive himself.  Then accept that the surviving friends and family are feeling the pain of loss and torment and they may not forgive him as easily as God does.  In the presence of those he has harmed he should always be contrite.  I do not mean he should carry that poison in his heart, for he has been forgiven.  But when you are in the presence of one who suffers, particularly if you are the cause of that suffering, compassion dictates you open yourself to their pain and suffering. That is love and that is what Jesus would do and in fact did though he never caused suffering.

 

I have seen so many have a little something go wrong in the morning and it just seems to taint the whole day for them.  They spend the hours of the day dwelling on the mistake or problem.  They miss all the blessings that come after. 

 

A minute is not an hour and an hour is not a day.  Do not let something that happens in a minute ruin the rest of your time on this Earth.  This is grace..  True grace is accepting that your are but a frail human living in an imperfect world.  Both you and the world are infested with sin.  But in spite of this sin miracles are happening all around us.

 

A small mistake should never blind you to the greater miracle.  Do not stare at the broken pieces of the coffee cup on the floor and miss the beauty of your significant other.  Do not complain about stepping in a puddle and miss the wide world happening all around you.

 

Our mortal life is temporary and brief.  In either Heaven or Hell our spirit lives forever. Would you like your immortality to be good and wholesome in the presence and wonder of God.  Perhaps Hell is just people walking around complaining about the sins' they've committed and about the sins that have been committed against them.  Perhaps the Devil wants us so focused on our problems that for all time they are the only thing we see.


"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink ; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? " Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? " And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life span?"
Matthew 11:28-30

True Faith, Trust.

One thing the Lord showed me this week is that every persons path to Him is unique.  Each of us is on his own path of discovery of His love and peace and ones own resolve as a Christian.  We can't simply tell a peson how he should behave and feel, he has to find it on his own through the signs that God reveals in life and in the Bible.  The things that worked for us might not work for somebody else.

It kind of reminds me of the first time I went rock climbing and rappelling on a very, very, tall cliff.  I was in a harness and tied off with a strong rope.  At some point my friend Forrest Peck said okay now step off the cliff. I froze in terror. He said trust your equipment and you will be okay.  It took a lot of coaxing to get me to step off that ledge the first time.

Faith is very much like this, we all stand atop the precipice. We are safe in His love and through Jesus yet we fear to step into the unknown and we cling to our own flesh, understanding, and control.  So we hang there in terror not going up and not going down, stalled along our path and getting nowhere.  Till you step off and trust in Him your stuck.

I think many, many Christians are in this predicament.  They believe in God and Jesus yet they continue to struggle for control.  They believe but they don't have the faith to step off and trust the Lord that it will all go according to His plan.

Trust is knowing that His plan for you is so much better than whatever plan you have for yourself.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6

Stillness

God has blessed me on this day and every day of my life.  He has blessed me even on the hard days when I felt like I had little else besides God.  He blessed me and loved me when all others had turned their back.

It is human to focus and worry about our individual problems.  Some indeed obsess to the point that all they see are their problems.  They feel anger and resentment.  They plot and scheme against perceived enemies and even friends to alleviate their own private suffering.  They gossip with evil tongues about their detractors and even innocent friends might get lashed by one's own human wickedness.

When the wise are plunged into darkness and despair they stop. Stop moving.  Stop worrying.  Stop dwelling and obsessing.  If possible they stop thinking too.  Just exist and perceive.  Sin comes first from thought, stop thought.  Sin then manifests itself as wicked words, stop your mouth.  Then sin destroys through careless action, thoughtless movement, stop movement.  When you stop, stop everything but your heart and the rise and fall of your breath, for a brief moment in time you are not sinning.  For a brief moment in time you can taste and feel sinlessness as Jesus must have felt it.

In true stillness the intricate beauty of God's universe fills your consciousness.  You feel the breeze, you smell the perfume of wildflowers floating on the wind.  You feel the interconnectedness of His creation.  You are not alone but tied to every other thing in the universe, you are a part of God's creation.  Even distant stars have heavenly strands connected to your very cells.

In true stillness you will feel the incredible power of His love.  You are imbibed with His rightness and then you will be filled with love.  Love for friends and love for your enemies. 

When your brief stillness finally ends. Your problems which were the whole of your existence just moments before are no longer problems but mere hurdles and none is unconquerable.  You will feel loved.  Before your weak human vessel fills up with sin again (and it will) read your Bible, the Word of God and his son Jesus.  Now you will have peace, love, and you will know your purpose.

"And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."
Mark 4:39

The Answer to all Questions

But how will I know what to do? 

Stop thinking about yourself and the path will become clear.

How do I stop thinking about myself?

Easy, think about someone else.

Who should I think about?

You should think about the One who is most important.

Wife, kids, parents?

Who created them?

God, I guess, I should think about God?

Yes.

Why?

Does not the creator of the tree know best how it should grow?  Does he not water it with the rain and green the leaves with his sunshine?

I guess he does.

Do not guess, know.

How can I know?

Stop thinking about yourself and the answer will become clear.

A Morning Lesson from the Oak

The last year has been a harrowing one.  A year of massive change for me and especially for my family.  My mettle as a Christian has been tested again and again. Often I had to remind myself that:

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." I Corinthians 10:13

It has felt like life under a hammer whereupon blow after blow have rained down.  When life is like this we have a personal choice we can shatter and be destroyed or we can let the hammer make us stronger as a blacksmith hammers and tempers a sword.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." James 1:2-8

Through it all my human weakness has been laid bare for all to see.  The cracks and lines of my humanity, my flaws, my mistakes, my poor decisions, all has been shown to anybody with eyes.

And yet I remain.  My wife still loves me and more importantly God still loves me, His love has never wavered.  In the darkest hours when my human sin was at its apex I could still feel the warmth of His love and feel drawn to his light.

This morning I awoke feeling some despair for another trial awaited me today and I knew it.  Driving into work I watched the trees as I passed by.  I considered them.  A mighty oak tree begins as a tiny sprig with a single tender leaf.  It defies all odds and grows and grows.  For hundreds of years the tree gets larger.  The foibles of humanity bubble about it but it doesn't pay any heed.  In the spring it dresses itself in majestic leafy attire and in fall shows us all the colors of the rainbow.  The tree doesn’t consider the future or the past.  It doesn't worry about storms or loss it just grows and weathers all the tribulations the world may hurl at it.  It lives without worry, or fear, or pride.  The oak tree is perfection for it lives without sin.

We humans are so proud of our accomplishments, art, science, culture, religion.  We marvel at our vast cities and we kill each other every day.  With rare exception all life on Earth succumbs to our invasion.  Fields turn into parking lots, forests into strip malls.  Yes even our mighty oak tree would only take minutes to cut down.  Even as it surrenders to our assault it has no fear, no worry,  all is well.

The tree as a parable has given me some measure of peace.  For all who walk the Earth face hard times. If only we all face it with such majesty as the oak tree.  Would that we all face the evil with the peace of God in our hearts and without care.