Tag Archives: God

Proceed With Caution

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Ruth 1

Naomi was broken. There was nothing for her in Moab, and life for a widow with no sons in Israel promised only poverty and disgrace. Maybe she hoped someone would have pity and provide for her. But there was no guarantee. My heart breaks for her.

Not knowing what was ahead, how could she bring the daughters-in-law she loved into such dire circumstances? They had homes and families and means to flourish in Moab. It seems Naomi thought they would be better off going home.

Liz Curtis Higgs (“The Girl’s Still Got It,” WaterBrook Press, 2012) is way too hard on Naomi, and without reason. I see Naomi as a woman beaten down, drowning in sorrow, afraid and lost. I actually think Ruth saw her that way, too.

I think Ruth also saw that, for all her brokenness, Naomi was determined to go back to God. It was Naomi’s faith – as weak as it may have been at the moment – that drew Ruth to believing in Naomi’s God. Her beautiful vow of love for Naomi and her pledge to embrace God for herself sealed the deal. Ruth was all in – a believer leaving behind her past and forging ahead toward the One True God.

Scripture tells us after Ruth’s vow, Naomi stopped talking to her. It doesn’t say why. It doesn’t say for how long. If we are going to read something into that, I’m going to read that Naomi was overcome, speechless in that moment. She had no more argument, no more reason to keep pleading with Ruth to return home.

Once again, I take issue with what Mrs. HIggs (The Girl’s Still Got It; WaterBrook Press; 2012) reads into this. She seems to think Naomi was giving Ruth “the silent treatment.”

“Is she angry, fearful, exhausted? All of the above, judging by her body language.” (p 52)

Are you scratching your head after reading that? What about it do you question? Is it the fact that Scripture says nothing about Naomi’e body language? How can we judge what we don’t know?

After citing this book yesterday, I have to say I’m not sure I can recommend it as a reliable commentary on the book of Ruth. I see it as more fiction with some spiritual truth thrown in. It’s an enjoyable read, but not something to base your theology on. (My opinion).

However, a book like this can test your understanding of Scripture. Can you separate opinion from fact? Can you tell where assumptions are presented as truth? Please don’t read this book, or any book or blog or listen to podcasts and sermons, and simply accept it as truth without sifting it through Scripture yourself. I’m including this blog in that list of reading materials you need to test before accepting what is said.

So, I’m going to ask you to go back to the beginning of this post and read it again. This time look for my opinions stated as fact. What do you see? I may be right about my opinions. I may be wrong. Scripture doesn’t say specifically what Naomi was thinking or why she quit talking. Can you identify what I said that came straight from the mouth of God, and what came out of my own interpretation?

This is what I want you to get from this: If you choose to read books about the Bible, read the Bible. If you like to get different viewpoints on Scripture, read the Scripture for yourself. There are some great books out there. But there are some questionable, and some downright heretical books out there, too.

Proceed with caution. Don’t let someone think for you. Don’t let someone fashion your theology with assumptions and opinions.. Read the Bible. Read it again. Memorize it. Love it.

We call the Bible God’s Word because these are the words He wants you to read and learn from. I’m thankful for scholars who have studied the Bible and can explain context and meaning in ways I can understand. But they are not the final word.

God was very clear to say we are not to add to or subtract from what He inspired men to write. The Scriptures are closed. And they are enough exactly as they were penned thousands of years ago.

So go ahead, read those books. Take those classes. Listen to those teachers. But proceed with caution.

Silence

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1&2 Samuel; 1&2 Kings; 1&2 Chronicles

Angie Smith (Seamless; Lifeway Publishers; 2018) points out that the books of Samuel and Kings are about the political history of Israel. Chronicles is about their religious journey during the same time period. (page 100) That said, I wonder why any preacher refuses to speak to current political issues when God Himself inspired twice as much attention on the political scene than He did the spiritual aspect.

I think we’ve become too comfortable with our heads in the sand. We convince ourselves that God will take care of the country. But if we can learn from Scripture that God uses us to take care of the country, we will speak up loud and strong.

God uses our voices to make His voice heard. God uses our hands and feet to stand up against evil. And, sadly, God uses our silence to mete out punishment we deserve.

German pastors were silent in the 1940’s.

Are we trying to fight this war against evil simply sitting in our pews with hands raised and eyes closed? We say God is on our side, when what we really mean is we expect God to fight while we sit back and cheer Him on. That’s a horrible battle plan.

Pastors, we sheep need you to protect us. We need to know the enemy. We need to be led in this battle. Name names. Bring the facts. Be political.

Jesus was. He railed against the religious political machine. But he also addressed the government. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (Mark 12:17)

I guess we can continue to stay silent. God’s given us that choice. But understand silence is not golden. It is never golden. It’s a tool of the enemy we willingly hand over to him. It’s easier that way.

And it will be our ruin. Just read the Bible and see for yourself.

Pursuing God’s Heart

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2 Samuel

Does it ever make you wonder how David, the adulterous murderer, could be considered a man after God’s own heart? What’s up with that? Seems to me those are opposite character traits.

In her study book entitled, “Seamless” (Lifeway; 2018; p. 99), Angie Smith said something that hit home for me today. She writes:

“David wasn’t a man after God’s own heart because David didn’t sin. He was a man after God’s own heart because he kept coming back to God.”

David kept pursuing God’s heart even after falling repeatedly. I can’t think of anything that’s more encouraging to me in my walk with the Lord right now.

I sin. Sometimes I fall into a familiar sin I’ve confessed before. Then I get down on myself. “How can I go to God and ask Him to forgive the same sin for the umpteenth time? Why would He want to?”

Well, because that’s WHO He is!

If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) That’s a picture of unlimited grace for a repentant sinner.

Paul said that he pressed on toward the goal of knowing Christ and becoming more like Jesus. (see Philippians 3:14). He’s not describing a peaceful jog. It’s a grueling marathon, sometimes falling, sometimes weary, sometimes tripped up by obstacles. But at the same time continuing to keep the goal in view, standing up again, allowing God to brush him off and clean him up, then pressing on.

David pursued God’s heart. That’s why, even though he committed some doozie sins, we know him as a man after God’s own heart.

Most of us are not adulterers or murderers. But we are all sinners. The question is, can we be described as men and women after God’s own heart? I pray that is so.

I would encourage all of us to start our day by sincerely praying:

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. (Psalm 51:10-12)

Then press on, forgetting what is behind. Today is a new day. Pursue God’s heart.

Too Harsh?

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Deuteronomy 34

Have you ever thought God was a bit too harsh when he prevented Moses from entering the Promised Land? Moses had tapped a rock like he’d done before to get water. Sure, he was frustrated and angry at the time, and expressed an “I’ll show you,” attitude toward the people. Sure, God had told him to speak to the rock this time, and said nothing about tapping it, so there was that. But Moses had worked hard most of his adult life, trying to get a thousand Jews into the Promised Land. One goal. One focus. Every waking minute was spent toward that end. Plus, he was a good man!

But when Moses stood right there in front of the Promised Land, steps away from realizing his goal, God slammed the door in his face.

Harsh.

Where is patience, slow to anger, abounding in love? Where is forgiveness?

Angie Smith, in her book “Seamless” published by Lifeway, said something I hadn’t considered before. It’s found on page 79:

“Moments after Moses was blocked from the promised land, God brought him into an eternal life with the Father. The loss was momentary. Temporary. It paled in comparison to what was next.”

I love that.

The consequence for his disobedience was an important lesson for the Jews, and us. It doesn’t matter who you are, disobedience of any kind is rightly punished by God. All of us are to obey God or face the consequences.

For Moses, however, his momentary disappointment was replaced by the most amazing experience of his life – entering into the arms of God in a place too wonderful for words; a place that made Moses forget the so called Promised Land without regret.

This life is full of disappointment, often caused by disobedience. There are also times of blessings as we enjoy an imperfect relationship with God. But take heart.

We believers will one day be ushered into the Presence of God where all of it – good and bad – will pale in comparison to looking into the eyes of our Savior and getting lost in His embrace.

Was God’s punishment for Moses’ sin too harsh? Believe me, Moses hasn’t given a thought to what we see as loss. Not one thought.

Say Your Name

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Genesis 32

I love that, and am convicted by the fact that, before God would bless Jacob He made him say his name – DECEIVER. Jacob had lived his life as a deceiver. God wanted him to own up to it.

Sometimes I think we make it too easy for people we want to lead to the Lord, and perhaps we lead them into a false Christianity without meaning to. We tell them Jesus died to pay for our sins, that if we confess that we are sinners in need of the Savior, “He is faithful and just to forgive our sins…”

That’s all true. Hallelujah!

But is acknowledging our “sins” the same as owning up to them? We aren’t all adulterers, but some people are. We aren’t all liars, but some people do lie. We aren’t all thieves, but there are some who take things that don’t belong to them. We aren’t all narcissistic, but some people look at the world through a very self-centered lens.

If I simply have to ask God to forgive my sins, I don’t have to look inside my heart. I don’t have to confront the specific things I have done to anger and offend Him. I don’t have to look at the areas where I disobey and reject Him. It’s much easier to acknowledge that I, along with every other human being, have fallen short of God’s demands.

Which makes me recognize the fact that God didn’t ask Jacob to state his gender or his membership in the human race. He said: What is your name?

So what name is God asking you to declare? Cheat? Arrogant? Homosexual? Gossip? Angry? Unforgiving? Deceiver? You all know that list of names is long. You won’t identify as all of them. You will identify as some.

After Jacob identified himself as a deceiver, God changed his name to Israel, “You have struggled with God and with man and have prevailed.” (28b) He went from one who lied and cheated to get what he wanted, to someone who struggled between the evil within him and the God who wanted better for him – and Israel won! He later confessed that he was amazed that He had seen God face to face, and God spared him.

I challenge us all to take an honest inventory of our hearts’ condition. Hear God asking us to say our name so that He can change it into something God-honoring and beautiful.

Born in Sin

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Genesis 1-3

I have to confess that I have always had a bit of trouble understanding the whole “born in sin” thing. I wasn’t able to get past the fact that a newborn hasn’t had time to sin, yet is condemned because someone did sin thousands of years ago. I mean, I accepted that fact by faith. But I couldn’t understand it. (which is what faith is, right?)

I’ve started a new study recently, “Seamless,” by Angie Smith (Lifeway Press, 2018). She said something that turned on a lightbulb for me. She reminded me God created humans with a chance to obey Him, or not. They chose not. So Holy God had to separate Himself from disobedient them.

Since they could no longer live in fellowship with God, their children would be born out of fellowship with Him, they would be separated from Him because their parents were separated from God when they were born.

You can’t claim to be a natural born American if your parents were citizens of another country and you were born in that country.

“Born in sin” means to be born separated from God. Being separate from God is where sin is. Even a newborn’s heart is separated from God’s because Adam and Eve’s hearts were separated from God when they received the punishment for their sin in the Garden. No one, except Jesus, could ever be born in fellowship with God again.

But we don’t have to live out of fellowship! Our beautiful Savior gave His life so the gap can be bridged, the separation obliterated. Through Jesus’ work on the cross, and because of God’s love, mercy, and grace, we can have God Himself living within us!

But that fellowship doesn’t come with being born. It comes with being born again. We are “born in sin” but we don’t have to live there.

Martyred

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2 Corinthians 10

We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against the powers of evil. Paul tells us the weapons God gives us are powerful for the demolition of strongholds. “We demolish arguments…” (vs 4b)

No one used those weapons better than Charlie Kirk. He wielded the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, wearing the belt of truth as he talked to millions of young people on college campuses. He understood the fight wasn’t physical. He didn’t call for violence against people who disagreed. But he demolished his share of strongholds. He demolished arguments with simple, yet powerful truth.

What we learned this week is that the weapons of God don’t stop bullets. This young man was assassinated – yes, it’s assumed for his political views. But let’s not forget his political views were grounded on the truth of God’s Word. Charlie wasn’t afraid to make that abundantly clear.

Satan didn’t care if Charlie was a Republican. Satan cared that Charlie was a vocal Christian fighting, and winning, the war between truth and lies.

We Christians mourn the man, the father and husband, the Christian, the warrior. It’s hard to fathom that God allowed Charlie’s life on earth to end when we see so much more he could have done. But we aren’t God.

Charlie will be remembered as a martyr. A martyr is, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, “one who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles; one who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle.” The truth is, Charlie knew the risks. He went willingly to Utah to further his belief, cause, and principles.

And, according to the Scriptures, Charlie has heard those precious words: “Well done, Charlie. Enter your reward.” Charlie’s life has just begun.

So the question is, how far am I willing to go to further my beliefs, cause, and principals? I believe Jesus is the only way to the Father. I believe without God’s saving grace on a repentant sinner, the end is an eternity separate from God with more pain than I or anyone can imagine. I believe the Bible is true from Genesis to Revelation, and apart from Scripture there is no truth.

Now what?

I’ve got some soul-searching to do. I thank God for the life and example of Charlie Kirk. I’ve followed his ministry for several years and as someone who is decades older than those Charlie ministered to, he has influenced my own way of thinking about certain things. But is a change in the way I think enough?

I pray that I, that we as fellow believers in Jesus, will carry on the fight with the same fervor and commitment to God as Charlie had. Satan took out one man. Let’s return fire with all of us wielding the weapons of God to carry on the fight against evil. Are you willing? Am I? The war isn’t over.

What’s It Worth?

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2 Corinthians 8

Paul is talking about supporting ministry with our finances, and out of grateful hearts. But were the Corinthians giving out of grateful hearts, or begrudgingly out of duty?

He uses Jesus as an example. But I think Paul’s words are too often misinterpreted. He tells us Jesus was rich but became poor so that we might become rich. Friend, Paul is not saying Jesus left gold streets, jewels, and mansions worth a lot of money to be a poor carpenter so we can have nice houses and fat bank accounts.

We have to ask ourselves what were the riches Jesus left? Perfection. No sin. No tears. The Presence of God, and the worship of angels. He left all of that so we can gain perfection, sinlessness, no tears, the never-ending Presence of God and the privilege of worshiping with the angels.. Once we understand that, can we ever give back too much?

Paul is talking about supporting ministry with our finances. But in using Jesus’ example he is telling us to go about that with the same attitude Jesus had when He gave to us. Don’t hold back.

What is our hearts’ attitude when we write that check? “If the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable…” (vs 9) It’s not the dollar amount. It’s the “why” we give.

If you say that since the dollar amount doesn’t matter so I’ll throw a few bucks in the plate and feel good about myself – you don’t get it.

If you sit and calculate your 10% to the penny and write your check thinking that’s all that’s required – you don’t get it, either.

What is the grace of God worth? Can you put a dollar amount on your salvation? If you think you can – you don’t get it.

Maybe you’ve never received it.

Imputation

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2 Corinthians 5

My study guide asked me to put the doctrine of imputation in my own words today. Not an easy task. But here goes…

Holy Jesus, who never sinned, became sin. God, who must punish sin, punished Jesus without mercy. The separation (the required consequence of sin) was real, and painful. Jesus paid the debt for sin in full, once and for all. Then he defeated death by living again.

When I repent of sin and accept the grace God offers by virtue of Jesus’ completed work on the cross, I become His righteousness. Just like Jesus became sin even though he didn’t have sin of his own, I become righteous even though I have no righteousness of my own.

“What do you mean,” people might say. “You’re a good person. You’ve done good things.”

That’s not righteousness. God’s righteousness is perfect, holy, sinless. And for the fact that I’ve done even one bad thing, thought even one bad thought, renders me imperfect, unholy, and a sinner. I earned the separation from God because of my sin.

But because of Jesus, God exchanges my sin for His righteousness. The exchange placed my sin on Jesus, and Jesus’ righteousness on me. That’s what the doctrine of imputation is about.

Think about it. I am the righteousness of God! God has entrusted me with His reputation. When people look at my life they ought to recognize the righteousness that is God. I ask myself if I really reflect God’s righteousness, or do I still wear the sin I refuse to confess? What does my life say about the righteousness of God?

I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD!

As I go about my day today, may I keep that truth at the forefront of everything I do and say. May God give me the desire and the strength to show the world what He has graciously given me… His own righteousness.

Amazing.

Satan’s Playground

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2 Corinthians 2

Church discipline is tough. In fact, I think it’s so tough churches refuse to discipline. We turn a blind eye and hope the person caught in sin sees the light on his own. Let God do the convicting and convincing.

I’ve only experienced church discipline once in my whole life as a church-goer, and that church blew it big time. It was handled so badly I don’t think the young woman involved ever fully recovered or was ever fully restored by it.

Now just because I’m not aware of “church discipline” in churches I’ve attended doesn’t mean it wasn’t going on. I hope it was. What I am about to say is my opinion based on what I believe is taught consistently in God’s Word. Here’s what I think church discipline ought to look like:

I think first of all we are accountable to each other. Jesus said that once we have dealt with the plank in our eye, the sin in our heart, we then should go and address the splinter in our Christian brother or sister’s eye, the sin we see them living. I believe that is the first step in church discipline. If we can encourage one person to repent of sin, the need for further discipline ends there.

But if that doesn’t happen, then two or three friends from the church should go privately to the person caught in sin with the intention of restoring that person to a right relationship with God. Again, behind closed doors, not for public attention.

Third, if that person is still resistant, representatives from the church, pastor, deacon, elder, SS teacher, should quietly have a meeting with that person and lovingly confront them with their sin and resistance. The goal should always be restoration.

I also don’t believe that this is a three step process. You might go privately to your friend many times before you ask another person to go with you. The two of you might go many times before you go to the pastor. I don’t think it should ever be a checklist you complete in order to get to the final step. We are talking about a dear member of our fellowship, loved and cared for by his or her church family. Sometimes it takes time and consistent effort.

I believe that at any point the person does repent of sin, the “discipline” doesn’t end there. I would hope there would be follow up, encouragement, support, maybe Bible Study or counseling that occurs.

Finally, and this is the first time church discipline goes pubic, the church must ask an unrepentant sinner to not come back. Again, this step cannot come without a lot of effort on the church to help the person realize his or her need of repentance. It cannot come without a lot of prayer, maybe fasting, pleading with God and this person to make that change. But as hard as it would be, a separation must take place to protect the body.

Even then, the goal of the separation is the eventual restoration of that lost soul. It should be followed by the entire congregation praying for the needed repentance, with anticipation of the time when he or she surrenders to God. Then, I would hope the fellowship would welcome the repentant one home with open arms.

I honestly think that if we really did the first three steps, the need for separation would be almost zero. But in that rare case, we have to do the hard thing for the good of the fellowship, and in obedience to God.

I look at the state of the Church and wonder if we are more intent on making church fun, or exciting, or attractive that we don’t have time for discipline. I wonder if we are so worried someone won’t like us we are afraid to confront. And I wonder if we are more worried about the tables turning, we don’t want to address sin in someone else. Even as I write this I think about churches that make the news because they abuse church discipline. We certainly don’t want to be like them, so we choose not to discipline at all.

All I can say is as I look at the modern church, an undisciplined church is Satan’s playground. I think he’s having a ball inside the walls of our churches and in the hearts of churchgoers these days.

Again, just my opinion. But I wonder.