Living for Jesus

I have heard it said that God is unjust. And people point to this verse or that and say this shows He is unjust. Let us consider John 9. In this passage Jesus encounters a blind man that has been blind from birth. One of the disciples asks who sinned that this man should be born blind, him or his parents? Jesus responds neither. But this man was born blind to demonstrate Gods glory. Some will say how unjust this is. That God would make this man suffer in this way half his life only for His own glory. And this is but one of many examples that can be found in the Bible. But I counter. How can we know what he will do with this person’s life. We talk about half a lifetime like it is so long. But when you consider eternity what is a life time? I argue that what may at first seem unjust is for a greater and eternal good. Let me give examples of what we do in our own lives that would compare.

First is braces. At best inconvenient, at worst painful. And you will have them for months. But the benefit is a lifetime of straight teeth. We know the outcome so we accept temporary discomfort.

We circumcise our boys. Some of us do. Do we do this because we want to be mean? No, we do it because it will be easier for the boy to clean himself properly and avoid infections. Thus even though this small child can not understand why we do it, we do so for his good.

Another unreasonable command from the Bible. God says worship no other God but Me and put nothing before Me. Some would say this is arrogance and not the command of a loving God. Or it is because God knows that by looking to Him you will stay on the path of what is good and right and not stray. Thus God is protecting you.

We do many things with our children they can not understand because it is for their good. Some of these things are inconvenient and even painful. So why is it so hard for some people to accept that God will do things for our good that we can not now understand?

Today while I was driving to work I was listening to Air1. A Christian radio station. The person on the air said that he had read something listing the most influential people of all time and Jesus was rank 3rd or 4th. The writer of the list was not writing from a Christian view point. But did say “that if the whole Love your Enemy thing had caught on Jesus would have easily made #1.”

So why is it that in a country that, by one survey I recently read, 3/4 of its people claim to be Christian has this concept not caught on? Matthew 5:44  ”But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” This is not an isolated statement in the New Testament. It goes to the very core of our faith. But it is not always easy.

I can say that those of opposing political views are my enemies and it is not hard to still love them. But it is not as easy to love members of Hamas or Al Qaeda. Or any group or person that is evil. But this is exactly what Jesus has called us to do. How is this done? We have to try to understand our enemies. Why do they think what they do? How did they come to their conclusions? You do not have to agree. But if you truly attempt to understand then love will be easier. I have discovered that I am not as far removed from those who do things I loath as I want to believe. So instruct those who do wrong with the truth, remembering that your God also made them. And they also are made in His likeness.

I have resisted commenting on this for some time. Not considering it worthy of much attention. But lately I have been made aware of just how much ridicule he is taking for praying. And not just from non believers but also from many fellow Christians. This to me seems odd.

Matthew 6:5
“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

I have seen this passage with an image of Tebow praying. But look at the passage more carefully. “SO THEY MAY BE SEEN BY MEN,” is this what he is doing? I do not know. Do you? Also read the rest of the Matthew 6 and it will be more clear. Consider this passage - Timothy 2:8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. Now I agree this passage could have different meanings. Here is another one to look at

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18
pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

or

Mark 8:38
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

So what all this means to me is do not pray for others to see but do not refrain from praying because others happen to be seeing.

Are you a Christian that has a hard time finding time for the Bible? Is your life just to busy? I understand. My wife and I work full time. We have four kids and four pets. If we make it to Church a couple times a month we are lucky.

But you must make time for the Bible. It is the Word of God. Without it you begin to starve spiritually. Matthew 4:4 “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”” I know that when I go without my effectiveness as a servant decreases. I lose focus and clarity. My evangelism drops and sin increases. Do not allow this to happen to you.

OK, I have told you why but not how. As I said before I have little time to sit and read the Bible. And when I find time I like to read other books. We are fortunate to live in the modern age. We have resources that our ancestors could not have dreamed of. I have a long commute to work. It is at least 45 minutes each way if traffic is light. So I have an audio Bible on CD. Do you own a smart phone? On my Droid I have a great free Bible app from Youversion. I can listen to the Bible on my phone. Just put in my headphones and do my work around the house.

So I say take advantage of the resources around you. Find time for God’s Word. There is more than one way to do so.

Many of my friends can not understand why the Republicans are able to maintain the bulk of the Christian vote. They point out organizations like “The Religious Left.” They will show me how so many of the Republicans that take on the Christian label are in fact purely evil. They are surprised when I agree. And simply do not believe me when I tell them that many of my Christian friends also agree. I do not belong to a political party and I am disgusted with both parties. But when push comes to shove I tend to vote Republican. Tonight I think I finally figured out why that is. Not only for me but for many of my kind as well. It happened while I was watching the movie “The American President.” In that movie the President said he was a card carrying member of the ACLU. And he was proud of this fact. And while I agree completely with the premise of this organization, I do not support what they actually do. They say they support the Constitution. But they seem very selective in what aspects of the Constitution they will support. Often judgement calls have to be made between certain rights. Sometimes freedom of religion will conflict separation of Church and State depending on how you define the application of each one. And the ACLU seems to nearly always come down against Christians. And Democrats tend to support the ACLU and similar organizations. So when it comes time to vote, and we are faced with candidates from two parties that we do not believe, it is things like this that sway our votes. If the Democrats want to court the Christian vote in any serious way they will have to rethink what organizations they choose to support. You may not believe what we believe or even respect those beliefs, but you have to face the fact that our faith is the most import thing in our lives. And we can not separate it from how we vote.

Are we in the end times? I hear a lot about this issue lately. It comes from everyone but mostly from my fellow Christians. And I am a little concerned about the certainty of some people on this subject.

I agree there are a lot of signs that point to this being the end times. Social upheaval, increased frequency of natural disasters, the Word has been spread to nearly all the world, and Israel is again a nation. I personally agree that the end times are in fact near. But I fully accept I could be wrong. None of what I listed above is new to the world. Israel has formed more than once and the Bible could refer to when it happens again in another 1000 years. The Bible states that no one will know when the end is to come. Not the angels in Heaven, not even the Son, but the Father alone. The writers of the Bible clearly believed the end times would come in their lifetime or shortly thereafter. In the last 2000 years many people have believed it was about to happen. People have quite their jobs and sold property because they were certain. Dates have been set, then came and went, and we are still here. So if you say the world is ending and it is just something to talk about, fine. This subject is very interesting. But when people say things like, “why should I bother saving for retirement, the world is going to end before then anyway” I become concerned. We can not know. We can only guess. Live accordingly.

Matthew 25:40
The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Matthew 25:31-46 is making a bold and powerful statement statement about how we are to treat our fellow man. Reflect on those words “to the extent you did it for one of these brothers of Mine…you did it to Me.” So if you are being gracious and helpful to someone you are being gracious and helpful to God. And on the other hand if you are being rude and uncaring to someone you are being rude and uncaring to God. So keep this in mind in your daily interactions with others. If someone is in need remember the heart of God goes out to him. Act accordingly. Obviously we can not fix all the issues and stop all need. But we can do our part. Then you can be one of those on His right and not like those on the left.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

This is difficult. We live in a world that is mostly outside of our control. But our actions can have a significant impact. We are called to serve God and spread the Word. But told not to worry. This can seem like competing demands. Remember if you are a Christian you belong to Christ. You have made the decision to be his servant. Nothing will happen to you that is outside of His will. And if it is in His will who are you to protest. The servant is not greater than the Master. It is also for Him to decide on the timing of His plans. Not us.

I made a post yesterday about my frustrations with showing Christ to others. It was from my non Christian friends that I received the most helpful advice. God will use those closest to you in your life. Believers or not. Basically they helped remind me not to worry. These things I can not control. It is God that makes the rules. I have to remember to serve Him whenever and in whatever way I can but to leave the results up to God.

Philippians 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

I need help. I have been a following Christ now for some time. But I still have friends and family that are not in Christ. I talk about Jesus when I can but more often I post and blog about Him. I have seen two camps develop. Those already in Christ have told me I am an encouragement to them. They like what I do. But the others have grown even further from the Lord. Those that once would admit they sometimes prayed, even though they did know for sure if they believed or not, now will not do so at all. It seems many have moved from “not sure” to “sure he does not exist” or at least “sure the Christian God does not exist.” As far as I know the only person I may have had some influence with in their coming to Christ is my niece. And for that I am truly thankful. I have even had atheists and others that have had a very poor opinion of Christians in general tell me that if more Christians were like me their opinion about Christianity may be better. These people have told me that I truly follow the teachings of Jesus but that I am the exception to the rule. So where have I gone wrong? Why are some of the most important people in my life moving further from God, and less importantly from me? Most of you that read this are on Facebook with me and can see what I post. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Christmas is coming. This time of year many people think more about giving to others than they do the rest of the year. This is great. Giving to those in need is in God’s heart. And he says clearly that you will not lose your reward for doing so. But what do we do about the con artists that prey upon your spirit of giving. They seem to be everywhere these days. Should we not give so we can be sure not to give to these people? Of course not. Be careful, but be more careful not to let suspicions keep you from giving at all. If you feel you need to research then by all means do so. But be careful not to just say you need to research then do nothing and not give. For then what will be your reward? We should diffidently do all we can to stop con artists from getting what should be going to the poor. But when it comes right down to it, it is better that some con artists should get away with their plans for now, than for the needy to go without.

I write this one because of my own experiences. I am immediately suspicious of all charities. And in the past I have let this keep me from giving. Now I do my homework and research the charities when I feel the need. But I am extra careful that I do not let this suspicion stop me altogether. Satan loves when a con artist prevents charity from getting to those in need, but he is even happier when this event kills the spirit of giving in those that once did so.