faith

Lust and Love

6 Comments / July 30, 2012
In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. I Timothy 2:9-10

“If you’re an adult male, you cannot deny the power of a flash of flesh to draw your attention. A too-short skirt. A hint of cleavage. It’s really an incredible force of nature. Most women understand that a revealing outfit brings a certain amount of attraction from males, but they have no idea how much power they really have. Every man reading this is well aware of that power.” **

As I came upon this paragraph, I realized exactly why it is so important for women to dress modestly and, just as importantly, why it is so critical for Dads to share this information with their daughters.

I have given God many excuses as to why I can’t write on this particular topic – I will offend – I will be viewed as legalistic – Some of my friends and their daughters dress inappropriately – My three daughters and I are guilty of immodesty ourselves, at times.  Please, no, God, don’t ask me to write on this topic.  But He would not let me go, so here is the post I have been dreading to write for at least a year.

As usual, this summer has brought skirts and shorts that are too short, shirts that give way more than just a hint of cleavage, and bikinis that leave very little to the imagination.  I think the saddest thing of all is that there there is very little – if any- difference between Christian and non-Christian women when it comes to how we dress.  I see facebook pictures of Christian young women displaying their almost naked bodies.   We can find half-exposed breasts and long, sexy legs in church services and at weddings.  And, even more surprisingly, no one seems to be sounding the alarm that this isn’t appropriate.

I wonder if so many of us women do not truly realize what our immodest dress does to the men around us?  Do we realize that we are tempting them to lust by not properly covering ourselves?  I submit to you that this is not showing love to our fellow Christian brothers, but instead throwing temptation in their faces and just expecting them to deal with it.

And  I would like to especially challenge Fathers of teen-aged girls. You, of all people, know what goes through the mind of a male who sees an improperly clothed woman.  Why do you let your teen-aged girls go out half-dressed?  Sure, if you ask them to change they may get mad and stomp off but many years later they will thank you from the bottom of their hearts.  Parenting is tough, but we can’t give in.  We need to protect our girls, their reputations, and the hearts and minds of the young men in their company.  Many are the conversations my husband has had with our three girls – asking them to change – telling them why – never giving up on protecting them and the young men in their company.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have a husband who is honest with them about this difficult topic.

Some men will say they are not tempted by immodestly dressed women.  And maybe the culture is so inundated and flooded with sexual messages that it is true.  But I doubt it.  I would guess that they are not telling the truth.  I watch men turn their heads and pay attention.  I know the constant attention given by the men in my life to turn away, trying not to turn back for a second glance, because of where their thoughts will go.

Ladies, do we really want to be guilty of this?  Do we want to be the cause of a man’s lust because we didn’t dress modestly?  And exactly how is that showing the love of Christ to those around us?  How is this type of dress bringing glory to Jesus Christ, the one who died to save us?  God commands us to be modest and I believe that one of the main reasons for that command is to protect our dear Christian brothers and the wives (our sisters in Christ) that are married to them.

I know that a few of you will agree with me as you read this post;  a couple more may give what I have written here some thought; but my fear is that most of you will think I am off of my rocker for even bringing this up.  In all circles of my life I find little consideration is given to this subject.  No one seems to care anymore. But perhaps it would be good for all of us to humbly ask God if our attitude about how we dress is the attitude He would want us to have. Even I, as I write this, find myself thinking about a few things I need to get rid of in my closet.

You see, this isn’t about rules – Thou Shalt Not wear such and such.  This is about an attitude of submission to God and love for our fellow man.  As Christian women, we are called to express our Christian love by keeping ourselves properly covered.  As parents, we have the responsibility to teach this important principle to our girls.  Are we inciting lust or showing love by how we dress?  It is certainly something to think about.

 

** Excerpt taken from 52 Things Wives Need From Their Husbands by Jay Payleitner

Living in a Castle the Size of a Country

11 Comments / July 31, 2015

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If you have done any kind of missions work outside of the Unites States or if you love to read about the world, you know that living in America is a little like living in a sheltered castle.  Sure, we venture out once in awhile to give gifts and minister to the peasants, but most of our lives are spent living comfortably and luxuriously in the castle.  Castle dwellers face their own sets of problems, of course…facing things like enemy attacks, betrayals, and illnesses.  But they are not worried about the very basest of needs, things such as food, shelter, and clothing.

How do we live an effective Christian life in the castle?  And can we truly experience dependence on God while we reside in luxury and comfort?  Even the poorest American is incredibly wealthy, when compared to many countries, simply because they have their basic needs met.  They do not have wild animals stealing their children in the night nor do they fear that enemies will burn down their home, torturing, raping, and murdering their loved ones, as they do so.  Most American children are never kidnapped and enslaved.

I struggle almost daily with the question: Why am I here?  Why was I born in America?  What does God want me to do with what I have?

You see, the easiest, most natural thing to do when our lives are safely tucked within the country-sized castle is to be focused on our own families, jobs, churches, and problems.  Unless we take time to read, watch, or go many of us don’t even give the impoverished people outside the castle walls a thought.

As all of this rolls around in my brain, many thoughts come to mind.  Here are a few:

1.  As believers, we are required to serve others.  It is not an option.  So many of us serve only when we feel like it.  Or when it makes us feel better about ourselves without costing too much.  Or when it fits our schedule.  I am including myself here.  I am ashamed of how often my first thoughts when asked to serve are often centered on how will it inconvenience or cost me?

2. We are to take care of widows and orphans (James 1:27); We are to minister to the Saints (fellow believers) (Hebrews 6:10);  But, most importantly, most of the Bible verses about serving have to do with self-denial.  We are to deny ourselves and serve Jesus, oftentimes by serving others.  This is no easy task and we should start right within our own families.  It is no good to be traveling abroad if we aren’t even serving with love at home.

3. There is no need to travel to third world countries in order to minister.  Many are the needs here.  But I will venture to say that ministering here is a bit like the princess helping the scullery maid of the castle.  There are certainly needs but the castle staff is still somewhat protected and sheltered because they live in the castle.  It isn’t until you leave the protection of the castle that you see true poverty, in my opinion.

4. Serving often means stepping outside of our comfort zone.  This is a big one and takes a giant leap of faith.  I say this, because I have experienced it.  Fear can’t rule you if you are going to serve whole-heartedly.  I continue to work through this even now, as I prepare for my next trip out of the country.

5. Ministering to physical needs is worthless, unless we are addressing their eternal destiny, as well, through sharing the good news of the Gospel.  I have long made it a rule to not even give to agencies that aren’t sharing the gospel, even if what they are doing is in the name of Christ.  What good is it to feed a body for a lifetime if their soul will be in hell for eternity?

6.   We need to be so careful with our priorities.  If we aren’t careful, we start living our lives centered around a home mortgage or a car payment.  We base important life decisions on selfish things like reputation and comfort.  I heard someone say yesterday that if it isn’t eternal, it isn’t important.  That certainly does put it in perspective, doesn’t it?

7.  And, maybe most importantly, we should be expressing our gratitude every day to our Heavenly Father for not only meeting our physical needs, but for giving us far more than we could ever dream.  And yet, many times, we not only take this for granted, but behave as if we deserve it.  We demand comfort and conveniences and tend to complain when things aren’t just right.  This happens easily in this culture, doesn’t it?  Where everyday we are inundated with commercials and billboards telling us we deserve the best.  Actually, we don’t deserve the best.  We are just so blessed.

As we ponder what the Lord wants from us, one thing is certain.  Each and every one of us has a multitude of ways we can serve others each day.  But we can only do that when we step outside of a world based on “me” and reach out.

WW #6: Simple Does Not Mean Easy

2 Comments / July 25, 2012
Today I am sharing some wise words from a friend of mine who is a missionary in Cambodia.  She is a wonderful writer and I know many of you will appreciate what she shared in her newsletter on Monday.  The analogy she makes is a great one.  Read on and see what I mean!
 

The heat here [Cambodia] makes it quite hard to want to get out and do anything, really, but I am glad to report I was up bright and early today for a riverside jog/walk. And I almost enjoyed it. Almost.

You’ll have to forgive me if a lot of my object lessons recently have been about exercise and the physical side of things. It is taking a bit of my focus and energy right now, as I am working toward some “before forty” goals. (The clock is ticking!) But I am beginning to see why many of the NT writers used athletics and sports allegories to make their points about the spiritual life. There are so many parallels!

A number of years ago, a doctor said to me that—unless your weight gain was due to medical reasons—all you had to do to lose weight was to eat less and move more. It’s that simple. It comes down basic math, really. If your calorie intake is consistently less than the number of calories you burn day after day, you will begin to lose weight. This is not rocket science, folks!

However, “simple” does not necessarily mean “easy”.

Anyone who has tried to lose weight knows how hard it is to change lifestyle rhythms or habits. It is soooo difficult to pass up that extra helping, or that tempting snack. It is exhausting to submit your body to rigorous exercise and grueling to stick to disciplined daily routines.

Weight loss might be simple on paper, but it certainly is not easy.

In the same way, salvation is basically simple. You have a debt of sin that you could never repay. Jesus has paid the price in full, and offers to clear your account. You simply have to accept His gift and His Lordship in your life.

But there is nothing easy about the Christian walk. The dying to self, the denial of fleshly desires, the breaking and bending of the will to the Spirit’s control. None of this comes naturally. But it must be done, intentionally and regularly. Besides that, the world will heap us with abuse once it sees we are trying to do things differently, not living by its norms and standards.

The basics of salvation might be simple to grasp, but living it out on a daily basis is probably one of the hardest things a person can do.

We do a great disservice, I fear, when we minimize the cost of following Christ. When we promise a primrose-strewn path, leading not only to future Glory, but also to heaven here on earth. We mislead others if we do not prepare them for the rocky road ahead.

Of course we do not walk this path alone. We need not strive and strain in our own strength. We have a Helper always available to us. In fact, He is eager to do most of the work if we will just submit to His control. It’s that simple. But not that easy.

–by Deborah Wise

There’s No Place Like Home

Leave a Comment / February 1, 2021

Last week I was on vacation.  The posts you saw here had been written ahead, my husband prepared a weeks’ schedule for his employees, the kids took off work, and our whole family packed up and headed to the Great Smoky Mountains.  We had an awesome time doing all kinds of things.  Of course, 6 adults and “almost” adults being together 24/7 in a camper makes for some challenging times, too!  But, overall, it was a lot of fun.   However, as our last day rolled around, I found myself ready to go back home.  Nothing bad had happened on my trip to drive that desire, it’s just that I love going home.  Home is the place where I am most comfortable and where I feel like I belong.  I know that I am blessed because I actually love going home.

As we talked about this readiness to go home, one of my girls mentioned a conversation she had had with Grandma  about a favorite relative that had died recently.  My mom had told her that she thought perhaps dying was a little like that if you are a believer.  You have had a great life on this earth, you really enjoyed it, but you are, after all, a traveler in a foreign land and you are ready to go home.  That analogy took on new meaning for me this past week.

It makes perfect sense.  I feel so blessed to be here on this earth and to be living the life the Lord has laid before me.  But I know that I don’t really belong here.  I realize it when I watch the news or when I look at Facebook.  I can feel that I don’t belong when I am in the store and I hear a song with lyrics that make me cringe or when I hear the foul language coming from a group of people nearby.  Oh, I am having a great time here — but it is not my home.

I find this a comfort as I think of those who have gone on to Heaven before me. They are home!  They are no longer pilgrims on this earth where they do not belong, but instead are home in the arms of the one Who loves them most. What an incredible realization!  What a blessed hope!

Philippians 3: 20-21  For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Wednesday Wisdom #5: Only a Few Things Matter

Leave a Comment / July 18, 2012

The following is from the book “Born After Midnight”.  It is by A.W. Tozer, who many of you know is one of my favorite authors.  I hope you enjoy this very compelling and interesting excerpt.

It has been suggested here before that life, for all its apparent complexities, is at bottom very simple indeed if we could only realize it. Thank God, only a few things matter. The rest are incidental and unimportant.

Nothing that matters is new. “There is no new thing under the sun,” said Solomon, and he could hardly have meant that there had been no mechanical development or social or political changes under the sun, for he observed elsewhere that man has “sought out many inventions,” and he had himself instituted quite a number of changes in the royal routine. The city of Jerusalem he left behind him when he died was quite another city from the one he took over from his father David. External changes were numerous even in those days, but in nature and in man nothing was new; and it was of these that Solomon wrote.

Nothing is new that matters and nothing that matters can be modernized. One way to evaluate anything in the world around us is to check for possible modernization. If it can be modernized you may safely put it far down in the scale of human values. Only the unchanged and the unchanging should be accounted worthy of lasting consideration by beings made in the image of God.

Should some reader impatiently brush me off as hopelessly old-fashioned I shall not be offended. To escape the illusion of the temporal requires a free mind and a heart deeply engrossed in eternal thoughts and filled with immortal yearnings. And present-day Christianity simply does not produce that kind of mentality. Neither can we hope with Wordsworth “that mellower years will bring a riper mind and clearer insight,” for our direction is away from this and not toward it. Unless we have been enlightened deep in the Spirit of truth, the passing of time will not help us. Rather it may confirm us in our carnality. There is such a thing as spiritual senility. It is the natural result of failure over a prolonged period to live in the light of revealed truth; and any of us can slide into it unless we walk humbly and circumspectly.

Almost everything that men value today has been developed from some primitive archetype: the streamlined auto from the wheel, the skyscraper from the stone arch, the supersonic airplane from the kite, our highly complex monetary system from the cowrie shell or its equivalent, our extremely efficient methods of communication from hieroglyphics or the jungle drum. I think it would be possible to trace about 98 percent of the items that compose our modern civilized world back to their primitive originals. Yet I reassert with emphasis that nothing new matters and nothing that really matters can be modernized.

What really matters after all? My personal relation to God matters. That takes priority over everything else. A man may be born in a sanitary hospital, receive his education in progressive schools, ride in an air-conditioned car, sleep on a foam rubber mattress, wear synthetic clothing, eat vitamin-enriched food, read by fluorescent lights, speak across 12,000 miles of empty space to a friend on the other side of the world, lose his anxieties by taking tranquilizing pills, die without pain by the aid of some new drug and be laid to rest in a memorial park as lovely as a country garden; yet what will all this profit him if he must later rise to face in judgment a God who knows him not and whom he does not know? To come at last before the bar of eternal justice with no one to plead his cause and to be banished forever from the presence of the great Judge—is that man any better off than if he had died a naked savage in the hinterlands of Borneo?

No man can afford to live or die under the frowning displeasure of God. Yet, name one modem device that can save him from it. Where can a man find security? Can philosophy help him? or psychology? Or science? or “progress”? or atoms or wonder drugs or vitamins? No. Only Christ can help him, and His aid is as old as man’s sin and man’s need. The naked aborigine is as near to God (and as far from Him) as the Ph.D. Nothing new can save my soul; neither can saving grace be modernized. We must each come as Abel came, by atoning blood and faith demonstrated in repentance. No new way has been discovered. The old way is the true way and there is no new way. The Lamb of God was slain “before the foundation of the world.”

A few other things matter to be sure, but they begin there, go out from there and return there again. They are that we trust Christ completely, carry our cross daily, love God and our fellow men, walk in the light as God gives us to understand it; that we love mercy, and walk uprightly; that we fulfill our commission as ambassadors of Christ among men; that we grow in grace and in the knowledge of God and come at last to our end like a ripe shock of corn at harvest time.

These are the things that matter. These things are always critical, yet few recognize them as being so. It is all but impossible these days to get attention to the things that matter. Only as the servants of God veer away from these serious and eternal things to talk of politics or world events or sports or science will the nervous and distraught victims of time and space give them a hearing. Yet these eternal truths are all the Bible teaches and all we are authorized to proclaim.

—Born After Midnight

Wise Words #4: He Is With You

Leave a Comment / July 11, 2012

One of the songs that has meant so much to me during some very difficult times has been this song by Mandisa, entitled “He Is With You”.  I remember being in tears by the end of hearing it the first time.  God used this song to remind me that He is always with me.  Even when I feel lonely or frightened or hopeless, I am not alone.  God is with me always.  How blessed we are to have a supernatural source of comfort and strength if we are one of His children.  May we never forget it.  I have attached a link to listen to the song on YouTube after the lyrics.  It’s a great video, so I hope you take a moment to watch it.

There’s a time to live
And a time to die
There’s a time to laugh
And a time to cry
There’s a time for war
And a time for peace
There’s a hand to hold
In the worst of these
In the worst of these

Chorus:
He is with you when your faith is dead
And you can’t even get out of bed
Or your husband doesn’t kiss you anymore
He is with you when your baby’s gone
And your house is still and your heart’s a stone
Cryin’ God, what’d you do that for?
He is with you

There’s a time for yes
And a time for no
There’s a time to be angry
And a time to let it go
There’s a time to run
And a time to face it
There is love to see you
Through all of this

Chorus:
He is with you in the conference room
When the world is coming down on you
And your wife and kids don’t know you anymore
And he is with you in the ICU
When the doctors don’t know what to do
And it scares you to the core
He is with you

We may weep for a time
But joy will come in the morning
The morning light

Chorus:
He is with you when your kids are grown
When there’s too much space and you feel alone
And you’re worried if you got it right or wrong
Yes he is with you when you’ve given up
On ever finding your true love
Someone who feels like home
He is with you

When nothing else is left
And you take your final breath
He is with you

Watch on YouTube:  He is With You by Mandisa

Connecting to the Default

2 Comments / July 9, 2012

Since the coming of wifi, life has changed considerably, hasn’t it?  Most of us think we can’t live without it.  And so when we set up our router a few years ago, we had to set it up so that there would be a strong signal in three different locations.   The main router is in my office and the network is called Home 2.4, then we have one set up in our kitchen area called Home Extended.  The third is in our Business office across the parking lot and there the the network is called default.

Interestingly enough, many are the times when I will be sitting in my office trying to look something up on the internet and it will be super slow.   The page will take forever to load and, inevitably, I will look down to the bottom right corner of my screen to see that there is only one little bar of strength.  Once again, I realize that my laptop has automatically connected itself to the signal of the default network across the parking lot, instead of the strong Home 2.4 that is right here in my office.  I am not sure  why we called the office network “default” but it certainly is operating as the default for my laptop!   Of course, I will scroll my mouse down to the corner and click on the little signal icon and then purposely connect to the strongest signal.

I have no idea why it connects to the weakest network but, I guess when it comes right down to it, we humans do that all of the time.  We quickly fall into our default mode, the weakness of our bad habits, and the same old, same old.  We operate at one bar of strength, wondering why life is so hard.  All the while the strong signal of God and His Word is unused and powerless in our lives, because we have chosen instead to stay connected to the default network.  And so most of us find ourselves connected permanently to a weak network, following our own selfish ambitions and desires, rather than submitting and surrendering to God.

Paul talks about it like this in Galatians 5:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,[c] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,[d] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Of course, connecting to the proper network takes some work.   We have to spend time in God’s Word and in prayer.  We have to feed ourselves spiritual food that is full of pure and biblical doctrine.  It is a little harder than scrolling a mouse and then giving it a click.  But, in looking at the works of the flesh, I see the default works, the sins we all fall into without effort–strife and envy and idolatry and hatred, to name a few–and I know that I don’t want those characterizing my life.  I want the fruits of the Spirit to be evident, fruits like love and joy and self-control.

And so perhaps today would be a great day for all of us to stop walking in the flesh, with all of its weakness and failures, and to turn our lives over, without condition, to the Lord whose strength is beyond measure.

 

Finding a Better Place

Leave a Comment / July 5, 2012

Last night a big gang of us went to watch fireworks.  We decided the best place to watch was the parking lot of a nearby historical society.  Apparently everyone else thought that, too.  But we found a place to park and joined the crowd.   With blankets and chairs in tow, we scoped the area for the best place to sit.  Most of the grassy area was taken, but we found one we thought would be okay, despite the big building directly in front of us. Oh, well.  We settled down to wait for the show.

A few minutes later, one of the guys decided he was going to search for a better spot and off went a group of them.  A few minutes later my daughter ran back and breathlessly told us that we should all follow her, where across the parking lot and behind a building, was the perfect hill to watch the fireworks.

So off we all went with our stuff, down the hill, across the parking lot, and around the building — to the perfect hillside.   Most people hadn’t ventured that far and so there was only a couple of other parties of people in the area.  And guess what?  It was a great place to watch the fireworks.  Probably the best place we’ve sat at in years…maybe ever.

This is the perfect picture of why I write this blog!  I was thinking about it this morning.  So often we are tempted to just settle.  We are tired of the weight battle, we are tired of the kid battle, we are tired of the entertainment battle.  We are tired of battles!  So we just settle.  We don’t want to work now for shadowy rewards to come later.  We want our rewards now.  And so we stay right where we are, taking the easy path.  But the easy path doesn’t always lead to the best place to watch the show.  In fact, I would venture to say it never leads to the best place to watch the show.

And some of us really do want to take the hard path, but then peer pressure weighs us down.  As I think on last night, I realize that if a few of us would have dug our heals in and said we weren’t leaving our spot, the whole group probably would have stayed put.   Thankfully, everyone was willing to walk to the better spot last night.  But, unfortunately, when it comes to real life, we often need to travel on alone in order to take the best path.

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 9: Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.  And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.  Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.  But I discipline my body and bring itinto subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

We can’t afford to be tired or pressured by our friends because we are running the race to win!  And the rewards are great if we don’t give up — a healthy body, children who love the Lord, a pure heart and mind, but, most importantly, the imperishable crown we will receive in glory.

Do you remember Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare?  I know the point of that is that slow and steady wins the race, but I would like to point out here that the tortoise never took a break, either.  He just kept plugging away without getting distracted or giving in to his exhaustion.  May we be like the tortoise today, as we continue to run the race set before us, always looking for ways to run it better and never giving up!  May we never settle for status quo!

Wednesday Wisdom #2: Holiness and Grace

2 Comments / November 1, 2012

In the recent years (and perhaps always), there have been many men who have decided they are going to define God how they think He should be, instead of how scripture portrays Him.  This is a dangerous business, as most of these men write and preach and otherwise espouse their heresies to a world that wants to hear things about God that will make them feel warm and fuzzy inside.  But scripture makes it clear that God is not only love and mercy, but also holy and just.

Last Christmas my brother gave me a list of books that he has found helpful in his own Christian walk with God.  One of those books was The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink.  I usually have a hard time reading through books that contain such old-fashioned language, but this one was so helpful in helping me understand who God is, that I worked my way through it without hesitation.  This book is included on my Favorite Books page, which you can  find here. But I give you fair warning:  Not everything you read in it will be what you want to hear.  This is not a book to tickle your ears.  Some of it was really convicting for me.  But all of it was backed clearly by scripture.  If you want to learn about the God of the Holy Bible and who He is according to Scripture, this is a great resource.  Of course, the Bible itself is the best resource!

I have chosen to share a passage with you today regarding God’s holiness and how it has been so distorted by both Non-Christians and Christians alike.  In fact, if we had a proper view of God’s holiness, I would venture to say that we would be appalled by our lack of sensitivity to sin.  I hope you enjoy this excerpt:

God’s holiness from a worldly perspective

The unregenerate do not really believe in the holiness of God. Their conception of His character is altogether one-sided. They fondly hope that His mercy will override everything else. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself” (Psalm 50:21) is God’s charge against them. They think only of a “god” patterned after their own evil hearts. Hence their continuance in a course of mad folly. Such is the holiness ascribed to the divine nature and character in Scripture that it clearly demonstrates their superhuman origin. The character attributed to the “gods” of the ancients and of modern heathendom is the very reverse of that immaculate purity which pertains to the true God.

An ineffably holy God, who has the utmost abhorrence of all sin, was never invented by any of Adam’s fallen descendants! The fact is that nothing makes more manifest the terrible depravity of man’s heart and his enmity against the living God than to have set before him One who is infinitely and immutably holy. His own idea of sin is practically limited to what the world calls “crime.” Anything short of that, man palliates as “defects,” “mistakes,” “infirmities,” etc. And even where sin is owned at all, excuses and extenuations are made for it.

The “god” which the vast majority of professing Christians “love” is looked upon very much like an indulgent old man, who himself has no relish for folly, but leniently winks at the “indiscretions” of youth. But the Word says, “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity” (Psa 5:5). And again, “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psa 7:11). But men refuse to believe in this God, and gnash their teeth when His hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention. No, sinful man was no more likely to devise a holy God than to create the Lake of Fire in which he will be tormented forever and ever.

Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of creature doings is utterly impossible. A fallen creature could sooner create a world than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite Purity. Can darkness dwell with Light? Can the Immaculate One take pleasure in “filthy rags” (Isa 64:6)? The best that sinful man brings forth is defiled. A corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. God would deny Himself, vilify His perfections, were He to account as righteous and holy that which is not so in itself; and nothing is so which has the least stain upon it contrary to the nature of God.

But blessed be His name, that which His holiness demanded, His grace has provided in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every poor sinner who has fled to Him for refuge stands “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6). Hallelujah!

Pink, Arthur W. (2010-04-05). The Attributes of God (p. 44).  . Kindle Edition.

Java Joe’s and the Death of a Dream

2 Comments / March 19, 2017

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There is an old brick house we pass each year on the way to the beach. One year I saw that this house had become Java Joe’s, an adorable little coffee house. It looked like a great place to enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend and I wished I live closer. But then I noticed a year or two later that Java Joe’s looked deserted. I wondered why it looked closed on a weekday. It seemed so odd. And then last week, on our way to the beach, we passed it again and saw that the building is for sale. Sadly, I realized that the cute little coffee shop is no longer in existence.

My thoughts turned towards the owner who first dreamed of opening a coffee shop someday. I imagined how he must have found the proper piece of real estate to make his dream come true. He probably excitedly prepared plans to turn the old house into a coffee shop and was filled with anticipation as opening day approached. I wondered if the first few months were all he hoped or if it seemed destined for failure from the beginning? This owner had a dream and he went for it! But the dream died the day Java Joe’s closed permanently. Perhaps the owner moved on to bigger and better dreams or maybe he gave up and still bares the scars of his dead dream. I don’t really have any way of knowing.

But I guess all of us have had to say good-bye to dreams at one time or another. They are hard, hard moments. Perhaps it is a wayward child entrapped in a life of abuse. Or a failed business that we poured our heart and soul into. Maybe we have never found Mr. or Miss Right and we have had to say good-bye to our dreams of  marriage and family. For some of us, our children will never know their grandparents due to an untimely death. For others of us, we are finding it impossible to have a family at all because of infertility issues or the children we do have are handicapped in some way and their future isn’t what we longed for for our child. Perhaps we suffer with a chronic illness and have had to realize we can’t do what we had always dreamed of.  And many have said good-bye to their fairy tale dreams of the perfect marriage while they flounder in the real world of being married to a sinner. So many dream deaths. So many tears. So much sadness. If you have lived on this fallen earth then you have had to say goodbye to a dream.

How do we handle the death of our dreams–especially the ones that we hold so near and dear to our heart? Oftentimes, the disappointment and lingering ramifications are invisible to others, making it even harder to work through it all. Most of us don’t share our deepest innermost feelings with the world and so we bare the pain and grief all alone. We are filled with a desire to shout out–

I am in mourning here! Why don’t you care?!?

But the world just keeps going on, business as usual. It doesn’t care. No one cares.

That is the lie we tell ourselves.

But is it true?

Eventually, if we are believers, we understand that it’s not true. That the God of the universe loves and cares for us (Psalm 55:22; I Peter 5:7). We remember that He is Sovereign and All-Powerful. We submit to His will and we make a purposeful choice to have a good attitude, asking Jesus to shine brightly through us, even through life’s disappointments. We choose to grow stronger, instead of bitter, when we have to say farewell to a precious dream.

Is it easy? Absolutely not.

Is it instant? No way. 

But it is possible.

It is all a process of submission and leaning on the Lord for strength. We seldom remain unchanged when working through the death of a dream. The question to ask ourselves is this:

Will I become more like Christ or will I cave in to my bitter, hopeless feelings?

Paul tells us that all is loss, when compared to knowing Christ. I can’t honestly say that I feel that way all of the time but my goal is to grow to that place where I can say along with Paul:

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:8).

And so we remember, once again, that we are a tiny speck on the timeline of the universe. Smaller than a speck of dust. And we remember that God is God. He can see the whole timeline. And so we move forward, knowing that God is with us–even through the death of our dreams.

 

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