Year: 2015

Our problem is not an inadequate education. It is a rebellious heart.
–Ravi Zacharias

It is not that we don’t know how to live for God.
It is not that we don’t have enough information about what He wants us to do.
It is not that we don’t understand the difference between right and wrong.

God has clearly revealed His will to us.
Not only do we have His Word that tells us how we should live, we also have been created in His image and the knowledge of good and evil has been written in our conscience.

Romans 1 tells us, “that which is known about God is evident within us; for God made it evident to us. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He made, so that we are without excuse.”

So the problem is not that we don’t know enough about God and about godly living.
The problem is that we are rebellious.

One example is how we have an innate desire to rebel against authority, such as the amount of litter that can often be found at the base of “No Dumping” signs! Our rebellious hearts never like being told what to do, so we see a sign that gives us a command and we show that sign what we think about its authority.

Paul says – the good I know I should do is not what I find myself doing. Instead my rebellious heart continues to pull me into choosing things that I know are evil.

Our rebellious hearts have caused us to set ourselves apart as enemies of God.
Fortunately for us, God loves us so much that while we were still living in rebellion to Him, Jesus died for us.

A Rebellious Heart. We all have one.
That is why I am so glad that though the sin of rebellion is abundant in my life, God’s grace is even MORE abundant.

God, forgive me for my continued rebellious heart. Help me to be less and less rebellious and more and more obedient to You due to my embracing a better understanding of Your great love for me.

I want you to know that I love Air Conditioning!
I already knew that to be true, but as Paige and I have been without A/C for the last four days, it really reminded me of how true that statement is. The outside temp has been up at 96 degrees, and so our house has been a heatbox! To make it through these last few days, we plugged in our emergency one-room A/C and stayed hunkered down in the bedroom. But this exciting new situation kept me from being able to easily write/post, but as my favorite A/C man got my new compressor installed yesterday evening, I am back on track now, so here is a quote to think about for today:

The difference between Uncle Sam and Jesus Christ is that Uncle Sam won’t enlist you in his service unless you are healthy and Jesus won’t enlist you unless you are sick.
–John Piper

Jesus said: “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Unless we are willing to admit our un-health and our need to have it fixed, we won’t go see a doctor to ask for help.

In the same way, unless we are willing to admit our spiritual un-health and our need to have it fixed, we won’t ask the Great Physician for help. Thus, Jesus won’t enlist us for service unless we are able to admit our sickness and come to Him for healing and rescue. When we admit our inability to rescue ourselves, Jesus then is ready to enlist us in His service.

I hope you are able to tear down the walls of pride and ego that can keep us from admitting weakness and need. I hope that you are able to admit to God your daily need for Him to keep rescuing you from your sinful thoughts, speech, attitudes, and actions. As you do so with humility, God will use you to impact others for His kingdom.

The presence of evil guarantees that history will be full of strife and that the world will look unredeemed. For a period of time, the kingdom of God must exist alongside an active rebellion against God. God’s kingdom advances slowly, humbly, like a secret invasion force operating within the kingdoms ruled by Satan.
–Philip Yancey

Humans, in their freedom, invited evil and sin into our lives by believing Satan instead of God.
God, in His patience, has allowed evil and sin and active rebellion to remain while He continue pursuing and rescuing those that will choose Him as their King.
Christians, in His service, now wage war against evil and sin, helping others to “taste and see” how good our great King is.

Realize that while we are here on this earth, things will not be rosy and comfortable and peaceful all the time. We live in a world that is in active rebellion against God. Therefore, history will be full of strive and we will have to endure through it as we work for His kingdom advancement.

God, help us endure through the difficult parts of the battles, knowing that You go before us and behind us and that you will have the final victory in the end. Thank You for helping us choose to be on Your side. Help us help others to do the same.

Very soon your life here will end….
Therefore, in every deed and every thought, act as though you were to die this very day….
It is better to avoid sin than to fear death….
Blessed is he who keeps the moment of death ever before his eyes and prepares for it every day….
In the morning consider that you may not live till evening, and when evening comes do not dare to promise yourself the dawn. Be always ready, therefore, and so live that death will never take you unprepared.
–Thomas à Kempis

Over 500 years ago, Thomas a Kempis wrote:
To many, the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24), seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire” (Mat 25:41). Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the day of judgment.
–Thomas à Kempis

These words are just as true today as they were 500 years ago and they were just as true 500 years ago as they were when they were written about 1500 years before that. And they will remain true 500 years into the future and 1500 years into the future. Because God’s Word – the Bible – is true.

I hope you are convinced of the truth of God’s Holy Bible. It has been tested, tried, researched, examined, critiqued… and what we find is that it stands the test of time, the test of internal evidence, the test of external evidence, and the manuscript/bibliography test. What we hold in our hands in the form of the Bible is the Word of God that He has preserved for us so that He could reveal Himself and His truths to us.

And if this is the case (and it is!), then according to God’s Word, there are only two choices – to choose For Jesus or to reject Jesus – one way is narrow and one way is broad, but only one leads to God and to heaven. There is exclusivity in the gospel message of Jesus – but that is OK, because there are some answers that are very narrow. 2+2 only has one answer. How do you get to heaven to live with God also has only one answer. Jesus himself said: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me. Therefore the ultimate question is have you chosen the narrow Way of belief in Jesus? And the next is are you sharing the truth of this one narrow Way with anyone else?