Tag Archives: choice

No King in Israel

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The other day I was reading the last several chapters of the book of Judges. And as I read how the tribe of Benjamin would have raped the man visiting their town, but instead brutally raped his wife until she died, I was angry!

When the other tribes went to war against them because of it, it looked like old Ben’s boys would win. Thousands of Jewish men were killed. In the end, the Benjamites were defeated. Men, women, and children were killed.

But then the nation of Israel felt guilty. They felt sorry for the few remaining young Benjamite men who now had no one to marry and carry on that tribe. So Israel went to war with another tribe of brothers, killed them and their wives, stole their teenage daughters, and gave the girls to Benjamin boys for wives. But there weren’t enough girls to go around.

It just keeps getting worse.  The Israelites devised a plan for the Benjamites to kidnap even more young girls. I’m appalled! This is abduction and rape, slavery. And these are God’s chosen people. Murderers and rapists.

As I was reading this account I was getting madder and madder. I started questioning God. How could he condone such depravity, I wondered. Then I was impressed with the words, “Just keep reading.”

And there it was!

Judges 21:25. The book of Judges ends with:

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Now I get it. God never condoned what was happening in Israel. It wasn’t his plan or his will. God never intended for his people to sink so low. But the Israelites didn’t care what God wanted. They did what they wanted to do.

“If it feels good, do it. Your reality is your reality and what might be right for you might not be right for me. There are no absolutes. Live and let live. You are the most important person in your world. Religious thinking has got to change.”

Sound familiar? I don’t want to get political here, but I have to believe what we see in the news from our country and the world stems from people living like there is no King.

Wake up, Christians. The time of our passively watching while our world does it’s own thing has to end. There IS one God. Jesus IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one goes to God except through him. The Bible IS true and everything else a lie.

If you believe anything else, please stop referring to yourself as a Christian. There IS a king in Israel, and I’m not talking about a piece of land in the Middle East. Jesus IS King. Today.

That’s the reality. And I am determined to serve him, obey him, fight for him. What about you?

Pilate and Me

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We celebrated the Lord’s Supper yesterday at church. In my devotional time during the past several days I have been reading about Jesus’ last moments in a human body, and it made me appreciate the bread and wine even more. Jesus is not just some character in a book, or some guy who lived a good life thousands of years ago. He’s as real as he was the day Judas betrayed him. And our response to him is as important as Pilate’s response to him was.

Read Mark 15, Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 19. See how Pilate, a powerful ruler of the people, washed his hands of the whole thing when he chose not to defy popular opinion. He knew Jesus wasn’t guilty of anything. But the crowd shouting for Jesus’ death was loud and strong. Pilate figured there was nothing he could do, so he just sat back and allowed Jesus to be mocked, beaten, and eventually killed.

Hold on before you get too critical of old Pilate. Is Jesus any less mocked, beaten up, obliterated from our society than he was in Pilate’s day? Isn’t popular opinion today just as loud and strong against God’s Truth as the people shouting, “Crucify Him” were back then?

Is Jesus the Way, the Truth, the Life, and the only way to the Father or not? Does sin, as spelled out clearly in Scripture, anger and disgust him? Are the wages of sin death? What is our response when popular opinion says we should be tolerant of all beliefs, that there are multiple ways to God, that evolution is a science, that homosexuality is not a choice and should be honored, that drunkenness is a party, that abortion is not murder, that Christians who speak against sin are haters?

I could go on. And so could you. God is asking me what my response will be. Will I, like Pilate, wash my hands and say, “Oh well, there’s nothing I can do”?

If I do – if we do – I believe Jesus will be obliterated from our society and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves. I was reminded at church yesterday, and again this morning as I spent time in God’s Word, that Jesus endured a lonely and painful death because he loves me. What is my response to so great a love, so great a salvation?

Pilate let popular opinion prevent him from taking a stand. Will I?

Father, I pray for your people. May we each spend time in your Word and in prayer, asking you what you would have us do in response to popular opinion that dishonors you. May Christians stand in love and in Truth against Satan’s lies. And may those who are holding this popular opinion be drawn to the Savior because your people didn’t wash our hands of the whole thing. God, you are powerful. May your power be seen in your obedient servants.

As Long As It Takes

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If you read the book of Lamentations you will feel the anguish over the state of things in Israel due to their disobedience. In fact, throughout the Old Testament you will often hear the Jews crying out to God: How long will you continue to forget us?

And often you will hear God’s reply: As long as it takes.

God doesn’t delight in punishing his people. He created us to fellowship with him, to love and obey him. And because he created us with the ability to choose or reject him, he drew a line in the sand. We call the condensed version of this line The Ten Commandments. There needs to be no guessing concerning the requirements for having a blessed relationship with him:

Worship me only. Love me above all else, Obey my instructions how to treat people, how to conduct business, what to believe. And for we who live after the cross: accept my Son as your Savior.

Sure it’s a tough list of rules. In fact, an impossible list to achieve for us humans. Yet God’s requirements don’t change. Here’s the line in the sand. Cross it and enjoy a forgiven life under grace. Stay where you are and accept the consequence.

Be assured. God won’t just let you stay on that side without doing everything he can to get you to come over to his side. You may even find yourself asking, “Why, God? How long are you going to cause me pain?”

AS LONG AS IT TAKES.

Samson: Too Good to Sin?

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Samson is such an interesting man. He lived a life set apart for God from a very early age. Even his mother, while pregnant with this baby boy, didn’t drink wine or eat anything unclean. Samson must have grown up to look like a crazy man with all that hair. And even though God was with him in a very visible way, Samson wasn’t perfect.

When you read about him in the book of Judges, it becomes clear that he suffered from a sense of entitlement, pride, a short fuse. Samson was more than a little cocky. And as good a life as he lead according to the Nazarene Law, Samson was not too good to sin.

His life reminds me that none of us are immune. Temptations exist. And too often we fail. We sin. 

Reading the Bible, going to church, abstaining from ungodly activities, even sharing Christ with others, do not prohibit Satan’s arrows from attacking us. Sometimes we can get proud of ourselves for living such good lives. And pride is a sin.

Living a sinless life is not a one time decision that occurs when we accept Jesus as our Savior. Living a sinless life is a daily, moment-by-moment choice. You don’t submit yourself to God at an altar, than walk away in a bubble that shields you from sin.

But we do walk away with the armor needed to fight sin. God would have us recognize sin in our lives, confess it, repent of it, and be forgiven every day. 

I wonder what kind of story we would read in Judges had Samson recognized his own sin and repented early on. I wonder what other amazing things God could have done through him.

Father, I pray for your children today. May we recognize sin in our lives and be quick to confess it and receive your forgiveness. May we turn from sin and live lives pleasing to you in every way. Make us useful for your kingdom for Jesus’ sake. You have an amazing plan for each of us that involves leading lost souls to your saving grace. May you find us faithful.

Do I Have To?

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We don’t have to obey the Lord. Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean God took away our ability to choose. We are not mindless robots.

In Numbers 14 God told the Israelites to go into Canaan. They said, “No”. So God told them to go into the wilderness and they decided to go into Canaan. God warned them of the consequences, but they went ahead and the result ended in their being soundly defeated.

We don’t have to obey. But there are consequences if we don’t. That’s why it’s so important for God’s people to be in the Word, to study it, meditate on it, pray over it, and allow God to reveal himself through those precious pages.

Everything we need to know for life, for love and happiness, for forgiveness and for our daily walk has been lovingly breathed into Scripture by God himself. The rules for living are there. The consequences of disobedience are listed in black and white.

We can choose to live by God’s Word – or not. There are blessings beyond imagination for those who choose obedience. There are devastating consequences for those who choose to ignore God’s Word, for those who disobey.

We don’t have to obey the Lord. But my prayer is that everyone who reads this blog will want to.

August 19

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Jeremiah 34:1-22, 39:1-18; 2 Kings 25:1-21; 2 Chronicles 36:15-21

We in America talk a lot about freedom. The United States of America was founded on freedom. Thousands of men and women have fought and died to protect our freedom.

But did you know everyone who has ever lived is given freedom no matter where they are born? Jeremiah 34 tells us about a God-given freedom. It’s the freedom to “fall by the sword, plague and famine.”

Gee, thanks God. Who would choose that?

God has granted all people everywhere the freedom to choose him or reject him. We can acknowledge the God of Creation, accept his Word to be true, or we can deny him and live by our own rules. God is plain to say there are blessings for those who follow him and consequences for those who don’t.

But there is something about freedom that we sometimes overlook. With freedom comes responsibility. We’ve seen freedoms erode here in the US because too many of us have not taken on the responsibility of making sure legislators aren’t chipping away at them. We’ve allowed our freedoms to disappear and have no one to blame but ourselves.

As Christians, we have the responsibility to obey God, to be holy as he is holy, and to share the gospel with everyone. Our freedom to choose God comes with the responsibility to live according to his Word.

Yes, we are free to choose. I pray that no one reading this blog will choose to fall by the sword, plague and famine by choosing to ignore God’s Truth. And I pray that all of us will take responsibility for the freedom we enjoy in Christ by reaching out to others in Jesus’ name so they can enjoy that freedom, too.

Holy God, I thank you for giving the human race the freedom to choose. I thank you that I am not a robot with no ability to choose for myself. Father, I choose you today. Help me to obey you. Give me the ability to share your Truth with someone today. I pray that my loved ones will choose that Truth. May my life stand apart as one who loves and obeys the One True God. And may I recognize that, as wonderful as the freedom I enjoy in Jesus, I have a responsibility to obey you. May you find me faithful.

August 14

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Ezekiel 17:1-20:29

I was raised in a Christian family. My mom was raised in a Christian family. I went to church three times a week and I had Christian friends. Went to a Christian college. Got involved in a Christian church and have pretty much lived a Christian life-style (some years I was better at that than others).

Being surrounded by believers my whole life has been a blessing I don’t take lightly. But in the end, God won’t look at the way I was raised or the people I held dear in this life time.

My dad was not raised in a Christian family. In fact, their life style was just about as ungodly as it could be. Dad came to know the Lord late in life. And when my dad died last September and met Jesus face to face, God did not read a list of the sins his family had committed. Dad was not required to account for his dad’s drunkenness or his grandfather’s unfaithfulness. 

Every one of us will face eternity based on what we did with Jesus in this life time. I won’t get a free pass because I was raised going to church and praying over meals. Dad won’t get a seat in the back because he wasn’t.

None of us will be able to point a finger at parents who raised us badly or people who have wronged us as an excuse why our walk with God wasn’t all it should have been. There won’t be an excuse if you were raised not going to church or if your parents took you to a church that didn’t claim the Truth of Scripture.

The question will be… do you know Christ as your Savior? Period. No excuses. No explanations. No exceptions. 

I pray that you have accepted Jesus’ work on the cross as your own. I pray that you value your relationship with him, that you talk to him, read his love letter to you. I pray that you are an obedient child of the King.

Because one day you will meet Jesus face to face. When you look into his eyes I pray you will see Someone who knows you personally and intimately. The love will be there. Ezekiel tells us God loves even those who don’t love him. But eternity with him is reserved for those who have decided for themselves to accept him.

Loving Father, I thank you for my family, for those who cleared the path for me to know you. I pray for those whose journey hasn’t been as smooth. But help us all grasp the importance of making a personal decision to follow you, to believe in Jesus and accept his provision of forgiveness. May we really understand that we are accountable for ourselves before a holy God. May we choose Jesus.