We live in an age of "Journalese"

The very language that we are forced to use attacks our traditions, our morals, and our faith. Things that are degenerate and sinful are called "progressive" and "liberating". Good words that were once pure and noble, like "choice" and "gay", now have reprehensible meanings. Everything done inside a house is called "drudgery", while anything done inside an office is called "enterprise". Modern doubt, which has engulfed us in the fog of agnosticism, is called bold and broad. Traditional religion, which has given light to millions across the world and across the centuries, is called dull and narrow.

When language is abused, meaning is frustrated and a person cannot even articulate his own thoughts, much less communicate them. It is a grave irresponsibility on the part of the modern press to abuse the language, because it spreads the abuse so widely. But the power of the modern press is matched only by its irresponsibility.

There never was a power so great as the power of the Press. There never was a belief so superstitious as a universal belief in the Press. It may be that future centuries will call these the Dark Ages, and see a vast mystical delusion spreading its black bats' wings over all our cities. --Chesterton, Daily Press, May 28th, 1904

When art is not in the service of heaven, it is almost always in the service of hell.

We should put any work of art (i.e. painting, sculpture, novels, performance art, movies, et cetera) to the test.

Does it give honor and glory to God?
Does it teach us anything eternal?
Does it move us to want to change our lives?
Does it make us thankful?
Does it help us love God better?
Does it help us love our neighbor more?
Does it make us want to help our neighbor?

If it doesn't do any of these things, it has wasted our time. And that's what hell is: wasted time.

Common Sense 101, Alquist

"When art is not in the service of heaven, it is almost always in the service of hell."
-- GK Chesterton

The problem is this: We worship the new instead of the Eternal.

The problem is this: We worship the new instead of the Eternal. And when we worship the new, we are always changing our allegiances, because there will always be something newer. Look at the schools of Art in the last hundred years: impressionism, post-impressionism, futurism, modernism, post-modernism, post-post-modernism. The very titles given to the new schools refer only to the sequence of time and what Chesterton calls a "monomania of rivalry". He says it is "just as if one controversialist were called a Thursdayist, and the other completely eclipsed him by being a Fridayite ... the notion that every generation proves the last generation worthless, and is in its turn proved worthless by the next generation, is an everlasting vision of worthlessness."

From Common Sense 101, Alquist

Too many truly believe that our generation is the brightest and most lucid regarding reality in all of history. Our kids will think this, our kids' kids will think this, too, and look back at our time and what we think now with a role of the eyes. They will suffer with the same pride filled assuredness that we did.

At some point, a rational person must take a humble posture and concede that we aren't capable of what we keep pretending to be. That we aren't as smart as we think we are.

Truth is eternal. It comes from a Truth Giver who must exist, otherwise our existence makes no sense. It is illogical and irrational.

The best way to determine the purpose of something is to ask its inventor

How do you determine the purpose of an item that's just been handed to you and that you've never seen before? Well, you might ask the one who created it.

What is the ultimate purpose of your unique life? Ask Him. Odds are He'll tell you.

Without God, life makes no sense.

If We're Honest

Truth is harder than a lie.
The dark seems safer than the light.
And everyone has a heart that loves to hide.
I'm a mess and so are you.
We've built walls nobody can get through.
Yeah, it may be hard, but the best thing we could ever do, ever do ...

Bring your brokenness, and I'll bring mine.
'Cause love can heal what hurt divides.
And mercy's waiting on the other side,
If we're honest.

Francesca Battistelli, If We're Honest

The evidence for Jesus rising from the dead is overwhelming. So why do some not believe it?

Sir Lionel Alfred Luckhoo KCMG CBE QC was a Guyana-born politician, diplomat, and well-known lawyer, famed for his 245 consecutive successful defenses in murder cases. You'll find this in the Guinness Book of World Records.

His take on the evidence for Jesus rising from the dead?

“I have spent more than 42 years as a defense trial lawyer appearing in many parts of the world and am still in active practice. I have been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trials and I say unequivocally the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”

There is evidence everywhere. You simply have to look for it. The world certainly won't tell you.

"When I have more money I'm going to be a big giver"

Silly rabbit. You reap after you sow, not before.

If you think,  it will never happen. You're going to be very disappointed. You can't reap before you sow. This is a principle God has woven into the natural order of things.

Before there could ever be a harvest, there must be the sowing time. Jesus affirmed this when He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seeds sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the Earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts it in the sickle, because the Harvest has come" Mark 4:26-29

Imagine that same farmer standing in the field waiting for a crop to come in when he has never planted a seed. "Once this crop comes up I'm going to do some serious seed sowing," he says confidently. "I'll be a big time sower if I ever get this crop to come in."

Silly silly silly.

What you reap you will sow.
Sow corn, reap corn. Sow wheat, reap wheat. Sow money, reap money.
This is not Prosperity Gospel. This is Scriptural.

Give without expectation, out of obedience, because you have been blessed with seed to sow. Then trust in the promise that God will bless that obedience.

Thoughts paraphrased from The Blessed Life daily devotional by Robert Morris.

"When I have more money I'm going to be a big giver"

Silly silly silly. You reap after you sow.

If you think, "When I have more money I'm going to be a big Giver", it will never happen. You're going to be very disappointed. You can't reap before you sow. This is a principle God has woven into the natural order of things.

Before there could ever be a harvest, there must be the sowing time. Jesus affirmed this when He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seeds sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the Earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts it in the sickle, because the Harvest has come" Mark 4:26-29

Imagine that same farmer standing in the field waiting for a cop to come in when he has never planted a seed. "Once this crop comes up I'm going to do some serious seed sowing," he says confidently. "I'll be a big time sower if I ever get this crop to come in."

Silly silly silly.

What you reap you will sow.
Sow corn, reap corn. Sow wheat, reap wheat. Sow money, reap money.
This is not Prosperity Gospel. This is Scriptural.

Give without expectation, out of obedience, because you have been blessed with seed to sow. Then trust in the promise that God will bless that obedience.

Jesus is the Absolute Paradox, Common Sense 101

I'm reading Common Sense 101, a book about G.K. Chesterton. Amazing.

Here's a snippet of the goodness of Chesterton's mind:

"And then there is the paradox at the at the heart of all truth. The ultimate paradox. The absolute paradox. Jesus Christ. That God should come to earth as a humble servant is quite contrary to expectation. That he should suffer and die is not how we would have written the script. That he should rise from the dead is beyond wonderful. Jesus is one surprise after another. He goes against our expectations. But Jesus is also the Contradiction: the collision of the eternal with the temporal, the infinite with the finite, the Creator with the creature, the invisible with the visible, the Spirit with the flesh, life with death. Here we encounter the God-man, the King who is a servant, the Spirit who is a Rock, the Lion who is a Lamb: Jesus Christ." 

"Christ has to be a paradox. We would accept nothing less." 

"The Cross has always been called the sign of contradiction. It is the horizontal contradicted by the vertical. It is time contradicted by eternity. It is sin contradicted by forgiveness. It is death contradicted by life." 

"What is left for us to do? Bow down and worship. That is the final paradox. Chesterton says, 'The worshipper never feels taller than when he bows.'"

From Common Sense 101, by Dale Ahlquist 

Wow.

We long for light but sink into darkness ...

"We long for light but sink into darkness, long for

brightness but stumble through the night."

Isaiah 59:9 (The Message)

Sin is a depressing subject. No one wants to dwell too long on their shortcomings. In fact, we don't want to even admit that we sin. But we sin. We all do.

Some may say, "I don't sin" or "I'm a pretty good person". But whose standard are they using to come to that conclusion? Not God's, that's for sure. Are they using their own standards? Flawed by nature. Others' standards? Same. Any standard we are using that ends with, "I'm probably okay," is subjective (from flawed humans), not objective (from God). If you adjust the standard enough, and slowly enough over time with almost imperceptible changes, degree by degree, we can eventually justify anything.

But God and His standard does not change.

"Our wrongdoings pile up before you, God, our sins stand up

and accuse us. Our wrongdoings stare us down; we know in detail what we've done: mocking and denying God, not following our God, spreading false rumors, inciting sedition,

pregnant with lies, muttering malice."

Isaiah 59:12-14 (The Message)

Salvation takes a recognition that we need to be saved. Who seeks salvation who thinks they're just fine? But once we acknowledge our sin (and we ALL do), we are ready to accept the free gift of Salvation. 

We regularly fall short of God's desires for us, and

He wants to hear us acknowledge this and depend on

Him in every area of our lives.

People hate to hear this Truth. It's intolerant or judgmental to modern sensibilities. But that is because those "sensibilities" have been created little by little, over time. They've snuck up on us because we weren't paying attention anymore to what God has said from the beginning.

Truth is an amoral concept that does not judge nor tolerate anything. It simply is. If we use Truth to beat others over the head, yes, it can then become judgmental, but discussing sin with an end goal of lovingly pointing it out so that another can realize that it is sin, then turn away from it? This is love. 

But today it does not seem to be accepted as love. "Good is missing in action. Anyone renouncing evil is beaten and robbed." Isaiah 59:15

There will always be push back against Truth which the popular majority does not wish to be true. So be it. We must stand up for God's Truth, regardless, all the while working on our own sin, which we continue to commit ... every one of us, every day. 

Thank God (literally) that He's made a way to overcome the punishment for that sin through Jesus.

Pride is the poison in every other vice

Humility means being small enough to see the greatness of something and to feel unworthy of it, and privileged to be able to enjoy it.

Ironically, both the skeptic and the believer think the gospel is too good to be true. But the skeptic scorns it, and the believer falls on his knees. He sees that even goodness is too good to be true, along with the Truth that is too good to be true. The only thing that prevents us from seeing this is the sinfulness of pride.

"Pride is the poison in every other vice ..."
"Pride does not go before a fall. Pride is a fall." -- C.K. Chesterton

By the Baby Unborn, by C.K. Chesterton

Chesterton believed in what he called "the intoxication of existence" and the invaluable, incomparable gift of life.

By the Babe Unborn

They should not hear a word from me
Of selfishness or scorn,
If only I could find the door,
If only I were born.

As Dale Alquist writes, "... babies remind us to be in awe of the world. We should never stop being in awe of babies. As Chesterton says, each time a baby is born, it is as if a whole new world has been created, because the world is being seen for the first time by a new soul as if it were the first day of creation; inside that little head, there is a new system of stars, new grass, new cities, a new sea."

Authentic Faith (a.k.a. a faith that is not dead)

For hundreds of years now there's been a disagreement between Roman Catholics and Protestants (just ask the Irish). 

SIDENOTE: I can't imagine Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father in heaven looking upon us with glee that we've separated ourselves by denomination. He commanded unity - one church. This is what the term "catholic" means: universal. We can disagree - that's okay. But let's do it together, as one church under our one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Back to the topic at hand. The question at the center of the disagreement is, 

"Is salvation through faith plus our works, or is it through faith in Christ alone?"

There are extremely valid arguments on both sides ... as well as valid fears from each side that the other will take their view too far, one way or the other:

• That the Protestants will say, "It's just faith, so I don't need to worry about these silly Laws."
• That the Roman Catholics will say, "I will lose my salvation if I don't follow the Laws perfectly."

But all this really means is, there are true Christians on both sides who just want to get it right because they love God. And as I study this more and more, I realize that we are far closer on this topic than any of us realize. 

Here is my perspective, take it or leave it:

• God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, so that we should not only not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) ... followed by, He did not come to condemn the world, but to save it. (John 3:17) So, God did it. He saved us through stepping in to time and space and sacrificing Himself to pay the debt ... because we could not save ourselves.
• ... all our righteousness are like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) Our works count for nothing. Zilch. It's like adding 337 good works to God's infinite salvation. Now, this does not mean that our obedience doesn't matter, just that it doesn't affect salvation.
• Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:17-18) The term faith, in more modern times, seems to have been bastardized to mean, "All I must do is say the words and I'm good to go." 

This is where we get to the meat of the matter: 

NOMINAL FAITH versus AUTHENTIC FAITH

We're especially guilty of nominal faith in our Western culture. We who say we are Christians (on average) seem to believe that we can cast our vote for Jesus and then go on with our live as we see fit. "Grace abounds! That's what the Bible says!" That's true, but with a caveat. Grace abounds for one reason: 

We're not capable of keeping the Law perfectly. 

This is why we need Jesus who kept it perfectly FOR us.  

If our faith is authentic, we have given our lives to the sovereignty of Christ, the King of Kings, to let Him lead it. For that to happen, we will want to know Him more (pray), know what He has to say (study), know that it pleases Him to obey and that it's for our best to do so (trust), then ... you guessed it ... obey His Commandments. He didn't come to do away with the law, but to get our eyes on the right thing: Him.

Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. 

No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

Matthew 5:17 NLT 

He's saying, in essence, "Keep trying your best to obey Me, little one. But when you fail - and you will - I've got you. I'll be your righteousness." Our works, by themselves, might get us to the outer edge of Hell County, at best, but never over the border into Heaven proper. But if we trust in Him fully, with authentic faith, we begin our eternal life, without the constant worry of failure.

Faith plus works? Not exactly. 

Authentic faith, meaning a faith that leads us to trusting and obeying Him? I believe that's the ticket.

Wanted: Cheerful Givers

God is not looking for tithes, offerings, or gifts that are given reluctantly or under compulsion. The blessed life is an outgrowth of "cheerful giving". (Morris)

2 Cor 9:7 says, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (NIV)

Only YOU know in your heart what level of giving is right for you. And it should be done with joy, knowing that it pleases God to show that you trust Him and you are a good steward with the blessings that you fully understand come from Him (not you and your efforts).

Here's the truth on Giving:

• I know that my blessings come from God, 100% ...
• I get to keep 90%, the other 10% is my tithe (a.k.a. an acknowledgement that it came from Him) ...
• Anything I give over the 10% minimum acknowledgement will be fully blessed (How will it be blessed, you ask? Give and you'll see!) ...
• I will be blessed in direct concordance with what I give (For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 38) ...
• We should not give reluctantly or under compulsion. If we do, this just shows we do't "get it" ...
• Once we do "get it" we will more easily let go of our time, talent and TREASURE, and begin living a blessed life ... a life of joy and freedom.

How does one become a cheerful giver? There's only one way: God must do a work in our heart. This is not something you or I can accomplish on our own. Truth is, we are selfish. We want to keep all of what we have because we believe we earned it, we deserve it, or - worst of all - we somehow need it for safety or comfort (which makes it a god to us).

We must ask God to change our hearts on this topic ... 

... then let Him do what He what only He can do.

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

How can you not smile knowing this is true?

I'm reading from Isaiah 35:4-9 this morning and I can't help but smile and be filled with warmth and hope.

Tell fearful souls, "Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here, on his way to put things right and redress all wrongs. He's on his way! He'll save you!" Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, lame men and women will leap like dear, the voiceless break into song. Springs of water burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert. Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain. Even lowly jackals will have water to drink, and barren grasslands flourish richly. There will be a highway called The Holy Road. No one rude or rebellious is permitted on this road. It's for God's people exclusively - impossible to get lost on this road. Not even fools can get lost on it. No lions on this road, no dangerous wild animals - nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.

Only the redeemed will walk on it.

[From The Message paraphrase]

• What pictures of healing speak to you?
• What do you like best about the Holy Road?
• What one phrase speaks to you most? Why do you think that is? What does your choice tell you about what you want from God?

Call to action!
Pray to God this morning in thankfulness and appreciation for the hope you have based on His promises. Be fully confident that they are true and you can count on them.

I KNOW Jesus rose from the dead. Here's how I know...

"When Jesus was arrested and crucified, the disciples ran and hid. They feared for their lives. Their beloved Messiah was no deliverer after all, it seemed. No, their cherished dreams had been dashed into a thousand pieces as He died in agony on that cross. Then a few days later, something unanticipated happened, something so monumental that these same cowards became heroes overnight. They emerged BOLDLY in the public square, and under the nose of the same people in Jerusalem who had arrested and executed Jesus, they preached a risen Lord. They were given the command to cease and desist. They did not. They were thrown in jail and forbidden to speak in His name. But they choose to obey God rather than men. Later, they were flogged and beaten. Some were stoned and crucified. Others were beheaded. But nothing on earth had the power to keep them from preaching and teaching what they had seen and heard with their own eyes and ears. They were no more willing to die for a lie than you or I would be. That can mean only one thing to me."

-- Josh McDowell, Undaunted

Add to that my own personal conversion and my own encounters with God. To me, He is 100% certain. It's undeniable.

So, why don't all believe? Because, they don't want it to be true. They have a subset of data that meets what they wish to believe and have little to no intention of looking further. They have their own faith, and that faith is blind, dependent fully on subjective personal opinions and/or "experts" who have biases baked into their theories. Of course, they don't see this.

It takes humility and a willingness to follow the evidence wherever it leads us, regardless of what we want or feel.

I know my Redeemer lives. Logic and reason and history back that up, but it's rooted in my own story and experience, which began with a humble heart and a desire to seek Truth ... to seek Him.