Rewriting History

It seems to be happening more and more.  And with the advent of the Internet and the ease of quick "information" (whether accurate or not), it's hard to tell what REALLY happened on anything anymore.  People with motives, writing in an authoritative style, but having no real authority, per se, take ill-informed theories and present them as fact via some link to a page on the oh-so-dependable internet.

I was having a conversation just last night, in fact, where someone told me, "Well, a bunch of men came together in 325 AD for the Council of Nicea to rewrite the Bible, throw out the stuff they didn't like, and ultimately tell us what to believe." And some of the speculation put forth goes even further than that, saying this is where "Jesus was invented" and so on.

Q: What is a person who reads one of these

blogs or fake publications to believe?  

A: Whatever they are fed, I suppose,

just like the rest of the modern world

if they choose not to dig in further. 

We are called to seek Truth ... to seek Him.  We are called to have an answer to give for the hope we hold in the promises of that Truth.  If we, as Christians, don't know the real story, or seem to only have a blind faith, unbelievers will take that as fuel to the "it's all made up" storyline being told by the Prince of Lies told through - I believe - well meaning but ignorant (i.e. lacking data) people.

I know it's about the heart ultimately. And that is good and right. But we're called to love our God with all of our heart, our soul, our strength, and our MIND.

Call to Action: Study. Know. Your church will likely have a series or two on apologetics and historicity of the church and our faith, or they can point you to resources.  My church has theology classes that I take, and I read a lot of in-depth books on the subject.  There are endless resources out there written by the likes of Ravi Zacharias, Tim Keller, Matt Chandler, C.S. Lewis, C.K. Chesterton, Billy Graham, and so on and so on. But there is no replacement for the actual Word of God.  Read it - study it with those who know it well.  


"I don't have time" is not an excuse. That is a decision you are making based on priorities.

What is YOUR priority? Will you simply believe whatever you're told? In a modern world of lost souls mislead by lies and misinformation, I don't believe we have that liberty ... if we are to truly resemble Christ.

Give ... of your first fruits, not your left overs

Time, talent and treasure.  These are what God blesses us with.

Time that we would not have if He had not created us individually, or created the Universe and a life-sustaining home for us.

Talent that is innate within us that we had no part in. 

Treasure that comes from Him.  Not for us, though, but for a purpose.

All of our time, talent and treasure is loaned to us by our Father for a purpose.  We must never lose sight of that fact. 

This is our wealth ... our harvest ... that comes from Him.  And to acknowledge this, we should give Him back the best of our time, our talent, our treasure.  This "beat of" is our firstfruit. 

God does not need it.  He does want to know that you know it comes from Him, though.

So, "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops;  then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine." (Proverbs 3:9-10)

Filled to overflowing.  Brim over.  Give and you shall receive.  These are promises from our God.  Do you believe Him?  More importantly, do you act like it? 

James says, Faith without works is dead.  What is it to say you believe God's promises and not act on them?  Well, that's not true faith at all, is it?

Giving your best back to Him shows that you know "from whence it came".  Are you ready and willing to step out in faith based on His promise, or do you trust in yourself, in man, in the security of money more than Him? 

Put bluntly ... do you tithe?  Do you give above 10%? Of gross?  If not, you may want to ponder "why?"

In what or who do you put your trust?  Where is there a better more sure return on your investment?

Trust the Ice

Since it's winter (although in Texas it's been in the 70's), I thought I'd leverage a ice-based analogy.  Folks in the north will get this.  Southerners, try to follow along :-)

You peer out the window to see that the lake has frozen over.  You gear up, complete with ear muffs and mittens and your moon boots, and head out to test the ice.

You begin by putting your right foot onto the ice, left foot securely on terra firma. You shift a little bit of weight... just a little... to give the ice an initial test to see how solid it really is.

"Seems solid", you say to no one but yourself, "but I wonder how solid it is toward the center."  You tentatively take your left foot off the ground, shifting all of your weight on to your right, and place your left foot on the ice, as well. This was a big step of faith. Good for you. But you want to test the ice further.

You slowly scoot your feet 6" forward at a time, heading toward the center of the lake.  Your faith in the solidness of the ice grows, and you start to gain more and more confidence.  Your scoots become steps. Your steps become strides.

Then - all of a sudden - you have doubts, and you slow down again. You start to question what you just had confidence in only a moment ago. You picture the ice cracking, and falling through into the cold dark water.  Why?  Because you don't fully trust the ice.  Your worldly self ... your skeptical brain ... tells you, "Good!  You shouldn't just trust anything that fully!"

You once again put your right foot forward tentatively, keeping most of your weight on your left ...

Isn't this our faith journey? We accept Christ and, at first, have full faith in Him. Then the world makes us question His promises. Promises of a full, meaningful life.

Our doubts rise to the surface. It may be due yo tough times, questions we don't have the answers to, or the loss of someone dear to us.  It may come from believing that we are smarter than we think we are.

Sometimes it's that worldly thinking that creates doubt based on false premises.

But imagine if we just had full confidence in God. What if we took a running sprint onto the ice, never stopping until we reach the center?  What if we just believed with the faith of a child? What would that mean for our lives? What would that mean for the lives of those around us? Wouldn't that give them a sense sense of confidence as well? And wouldn't their growing confidence give us further confidence?

God, I know that you have the "full life" in your hands for me if I will just have faith in you and in your promises. I believe a little. Help me to believe fully, and to act upon it. I trust you. I surrender to you. I ask you to be Lord of my life ... fully. Thank you for your faith in me, while I was (correction: while I am) still a sinner. Help me Lord to return the favor.
In Jesus' name, Amen.

Last Two Shekels

Spent the weekend with my folks on Lake Conroe.  As is customary for our trips there, we went to Mass at their church, St. Mary's of Huntersville.  The guest Priest spoke of Elijah and the widow.  Elijah came upon a widow collecting sticks and asked her for some water and something to eat.  She conveyed that she only had a handful of flour and very little oil, only enough for she and her son.  In essence, he conveyed what Jesus would later convey:  give (provide for Elijah's needs) and God would bless that faith in His promises to take care of her needs.  Cutting to the chase, she did, baking Elijah a small cake of bread using the last of what she had.  And as a result of her faith, she had enough flour and oil for she and her son for the next year.

Much much later (from our temporal perspective), Jesus spoke of the woman at the Temple who gave her last two remaining shekels, a tiny fraction of what the Pharisees gave.  Jesus said, she gave FAR more.  How is that?  She gave more because they gave from their surplus, which really didn't hurt much.  She, on the other hand, gave all she had. 

She gave all she had.

How do you give?  Your money, your time, your talent ... how do you give of any of it?  With caution, with reserve, careful not to give too much so you remain comfortable and seemingly secure?  Or with real trust in God's promises?  Throwing worldly caution to the wind?  Unreservedly?  Carelessly (from the world's perspective)?

Every blessing we have is 100% His. He's giving it to us to use, not to keep. 

Do you believe that?  Remember, faith without action shows your TRUE heart. 

As it says in Matthew 7:16, "You will know them by their fruits."  Let your tree of faith blossom, then watch what God does with that faith.