Welcome [Back]! ("Steps To Christ" Chapter 1)

Welcome (and welcome back, some of you) to the (woefully neglected) RST blog, and especially welcome Bonita Valley Adventist Church folks who are reading Steps To Christ this quarter. As Sharon said, we'll post here early in the week (well, it'll be "early" starting next week -- this week, not so much :-)  Feel free to jump in, comment on these or any posts (or the emailed questions), wander through the archived RSTs, whatever, make yourselves at home. Alrighty then -- here we go! Here's what really jumped out at me from Chapter 1 (as you'll notice, most posts are much shorter than these so don't panic).

God has bound our hearts to Him by unnumbered tokens in heaven and in earth. Through the things of nature, and the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us. Yet these but imperfectly represent His love. Though all these evidences have been given, the enemy of good blinded the minds of men, so that they looked upon God with fear; they thought of Him as severe and unforgiving. Satan led men to conceive of God as a being whose chief attribute is stern justice--one who is a severe judge, a harsh, exacting creditor. He pictured the Creator as a being who is watching with jealous eye to discern the errors and mistakes of men, that He may visit judgments upon them. It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God, that Jesus came to live among men...In describing His earthly mission, Jesus said, The Lord "hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." Luke 4:18. (pp. 10-11)

I'm always struck, when I allow myself the time/space to think about deeper things, by the relentlessness of God's pursuit of me, of His immeasurable love for me and His unflagging drive to make me aware of His actual, literal, tender affection and mercy toward me. He's not mad; He loves me, yes, tenderly, and fiercely, but mostly irrevocably. Turns out He's crazy about me.

And then I'm also struck by the flip side: the relentlessly malevolent, angry, and bitter assault of the Adversary. He is the Father of Lies, and lie about God he does. Too many of us buy it, too. Before you think about it too much, take a quick inventory and see: do you feel like God is warm and affectionate and darned-near mushy crazy about you? Or does He feel cold, hard, distant, judgmental, vindictive?   Read Jesus' own words above from Luke 4 (reading about Himself from Isaiah 61). That's what He said He was about; why do I (sometimes? often?) believe otherwise about Him?

Jesus did not suppress one word of truth, but He uttered it always in love. He exercised the greatest tact and thoughtful, kind attention in His intercourse with the people. He was never rude, never needlessly spoke a severe word, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He did not censure human weakness. He spoke the truth, but always in love. He denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity; but tears were in His voice as He uttered His scathing rebukes ... His life was one of self-denial and thoughtful care for others. Every soul was precious in His eyes. While He ever bore Himself with divine dignity, He bowed with the tenderest regard to every member of the family of God. In all men He saw fallen souls whom it was His mission to save. (p.12)

I love how Christ did the consistent living-out of who He was and what was written about Him in scripture (like the passage from Isaiah above). He truly  exemplified for us CHRISTians what The Way looks like. Now for the pointy end of the stick: how am I doing living out my credo? Do I look like Him, or do I just say I do?

The more we study the divine character in the light of the cross, the more we see mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness blended with equity and justice, and the more clearly we discern innumerable evidences of a love that is infinite and a tender pity surpassing a mother's yearning sympathy for her wayward child. (p. 15)

Yep. That about covers it; it takes effort, and a little faith, to see beyond the deception the Adversary crafts and sells so effectively. God is love. No, seriously; God is so loving He actually is love. I just have to look around at the "innumerable evidences" and remember.

You've been prayed for today...

J 

Your "Armor of God" -- nice and shiny?

Here's one that had been saved in an old email folder since 2007. It's based on thoughts by Jim Weidmann, a VP at Promise Keepers.

I enjoyed playing football at the Air Force Academy. I’d pass by the full length mirror on the way to warm ups and feel pretty impressed with myself; decked out in my football armor of helmet, pads, and a bright white and blue uniform emblazoned with lightning bolts. I soon became aware there was an unwritten rule of being on the squad:  DO NOT return to the locker room wearing a uniform as clean as when you went out!  The proof that you had engaged the adversary on the football field was seen in coming back with a “well used uniform” containing grass and blood stains. Ending the game in a clean-as-new uniform proclaimed to everyone that you hadn’t even made it off the bench and onto the field.

The rise of the Roman Empire was due in no small part to the well-equipped Roman soldier, so much so that the Apostle Paul uses the Roman soldier's armor as a visual example to describe the Armor of God.  In Ephesians 6:10-18 we are told to put on this whole Armor of God — powerful both on defense and offense — so we "can take our stand against the devil’s schemes."  We are instructed to put it on with the intention and understanding that IT WILL BE USED; and by the way, nowhere are we told to take it off.

Christians, we forget that God’s armor equips us for battle with our very real, relentless, powerful, malignant enemy.  If we are making a difference for the Kingdom (and thus making inroads into Satan's dominion), we can expect many skirmishes with that enemy.  By the time we reach the end of the day we should expect our armor to be dinged, dented and “well used.”  Coach Mac, PK’s co-founder, once asked: "We are at war, but have we been *in* the war?"  Put on your armor and engage the enemy in your sphere of influence – and remember that the fight comes to you whether you are ready for it or not. What you do with it is up to you. Will you stand? Or will you cave?

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

(Ephesians 6:10-18)

So, following Paul's exhortation:

You've been prayed for today.

J

"Mightier than the breakers of the sea"

Hey, Y'all,

A few days ago we had church at the beach and we discussed Psalm 93 (thanks, Pastor, for the reminder) -- here are a few verses to chew on...

Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.

The seas have lifted up, O LORD,
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.

Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea--
the LORD on high is mighty.

Been thinking about the many different coastlines I've been fortunate enough to visit over the years: some cold and others tropical, some rocky and others sandy -- from black to sugar-white, with waters ranging from grey to green to deepest blue. Invariably they draw me, almost magically, (siren song?) and alternately hypnotize and humble, strengthen and soothe, energize and awe...

Why is that exactly? Is it the oceans' inscrutable depths? The neverending horizons? Or is it the seemingly unlimited variations on "Green" and "Blue"? Or the comforting constancy of the breeze, with its clean, briny scent? Is it the pounding thunder of the breakers? Or the hisssss as they recede back down the sand? What about the sound of utter silence interrupted only by the soft lapping of gentle waves on the shore (or against the side of a gently rocking boat) while enjoying the sheer bliss of eyes-closed-warm-sun-bare-skin?

What is it about the ocean?

What is it about us?

What is it about God?



You've been prayed for today...

J

What Is God Like? He rejoices over you...

This is what Zephaniah 3:17 says, little Lea...

The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.

You've been prayed for today.

(Thanks mon frere Mike R. for the reminder) .

J

"The Influence of Grace"

Hey, y'all,

Have had this sitting in my "on-deck circle" of RSTs for months -- seems like a good place to talk about it.

"...No man who has the true ideal of what constitutes a perfect character will fail to manifest the sympathy and tenderness of Christ. The influence of grace is to soften the heart, to refine and purify the feelings, giving a heaven-born delicacy and sense of propriety...

"A religion that leads men to place a low estimate upon human beings, whom Christ has esteemed of such value as to give Himself for them, a religion that would lead us to be careless of human needs, sufferings, or rights, is a spurious religion...

"It is because men take upon themselves the name of Christ, while in life they deny His character, that Christianity has so little power in the world."

—E G White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 135-137

A couple of 'ouches' there:
Can't say I haven't (on a regular basis, good grief!) failed to "manifest the sympathy and tenderness of Christ" -- but I'm sure it's probably just me :-). And that's pretty potent stuff there at the end: "It is because men take upon themselves the name of Christ, while in life they deny His character, that Christianity has so little power in the world." How true is that?!? And how significant exactly is my contribution to that depressing little equation?

Interesting how grace isn't described as some namby-pamby soft-and-fuzzy little nothing; it's characterized as having powerful, transformative power. Thus, if I'm not being consistently changed by my acceptance of God's grace (manifested as a vital, life-altering relationship with Him), how authentic was the 'grace experience' really?

You've been prayed for today...

J

Faith? (Part 2)

Following up the last post...

"Faith is seen in the substance of a life lived in service to others." [True religion is not] "...a cheap, disposable faith that says nothing, costs nothing, does nothing, risks nothing, and speaks not of God, but only of the grubby, temporal perspectives and fears of ground-bound women and men."

That's the hard question you need to ask yourself right there: what is your faith, your religion (or lack thereof), actually doing, how is it working on your mind, your soul, to motivate you to improve the lot of all of God's children here below? Not just your spouse, or your children, or your friends, not just the deserving (whatever that means to you), but the wretched, the most vulnerable, the least lovable.

Is your "faith" simply a warm, comfortable little 'something' that you take once a week (or less) to feel better? Is church just a social club where you pat yourselves on the back while saying tsk-tsk at what you see in the world around you?

Does it speak "only of the grubby, temporal perspectives and fears of ground-bound women and men?" Does it encourage you to turn away, holding your nose while looking beyond this present reality, focusing instead on your "eternal reward?" Or does it soften you to the plight of others, does it inspire you to serve, to give, perhaps even painfully, expecting nothing in return?

The crux of the matter is this: it matters not how much "truth" your religion lays claim to; it matters even less that you think you're right about this, that, or the other. Real faith is not cheap, it is not static nor weak; true religion is in fact costly, it is powerful, it works. If your beliefs do not move you toward service and even self-sacrifice, then they merit reconsideration--and perhaps outright rejection.

The inescapable truth is that any belief system that does not result in service to others is indeed "a cheap, disposable faith that says nothing, costs nothing, does nothing, risks nothing, and speaks not of God."

You've been prayed for today...

J

Faith? (Part 1)

Hey, Y'all,

Ran across this in a column by Leonard Pitts; found it interesting because he is not an overtly christian writer, but mostly it really resonated with something Evonne and I (and our church as a whole) have been thinking about and discussing lately...

We specialize in cheesy expressions of faith here in God's favorite country. Indeed, you could build a tower unto heaven itself out of all the roadside Jesuses, prayer cloths, Ten Commandments rocks, and other trinkets of a cheap, disposable faith that says nothing, costs nothing, does nothing, risks nothing, and speaks not of God, but only of the grubby, temporal perspectives and fears of ground-bound women and men.

Last November, the University of Chicago published a study quantifying the blazingly obvious: people tend to create God in their own image, to ascribe to the deity their own opinions, interests and beliefs. But is that really faith, when you reduce God to a bigger version of you?

Mother Teresa's faith drove her to foreswear material riches and spend half a century working to uplift the wretched poor of Calcutta.

Martin Luther King's faith drove him to gamble his very life in a dangerous campaign to win human and civil rights for African-American people...

The point is not that we can do what Martin Luther King did or be who Mother Teresa was -- we all suffer in that comparison. Rather, faith is seen in the substance of a life lived in service to others, lived as if God were not in fact one's personal echo chamber in the sky.

(More to follow).

You've been prayed for today...

J