Salt and Light Blog

The tornado tragedies in Oklahoma have once again brought to light the brevity of life and the finality of death. There will be many questions as to why this happened and why did innocent children have to die. We will have some speculate on this being an act of God bringing judgment upon the sinfulness of Oklahoma and/or America. We best tread cautiously on the last point.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was asked His opinion of a tragedy in Galilee and Jesus took the high road and avoided the obvious political trap being set for Him. Instead He asked His questioners a question, as was often His habit:

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So baby murderer Kermit Gosnell has given up his right to appeal his sentence “in exchange for avoiding a possible death sentence,” CNN.com reports on its “Justice” web page. You may be thinking, some justice that this murderer gets life after taking so many innocent ones. I know exactly how you feel.

However, I want to go back to what I wrote yesterday:

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Yesterday Kermit Gosnell was found guilty on three of the four charges of baby murder. Much rejoicing was seen on social media and some not so Christlike comments followed on. While I understand the desire for vengeance, no one fights this urge greater than me, we must remember that we have a God of justice even when injustice seems to rule the land. Solomon reminds us:

“Moreover I saw under the sun: in the place of judgment, wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, iniquity was there. I said in my heart, ‘God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.’” (Ecclesiastes 3:16-17)

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Last week was a tough week for me. Dealing with the issues of life was trying enough, but knowing what our present government has become in light of the Benghazi hearings it is enough to think of our nation as hopeless. If I were to look horizontally, that is all around me, for signs of hope I would have good reason to think of things as hopeless. But while I am living in this world, I am not of it because I am a child of the one true King as the Matthew West song proclaims.

The early church in Thessalonica felt this same despair in worrying of whether or not they had missed Jesus’ second coming. The Apostle Paul assure this church they had not and that no matter what they were facing, or whatever we are facing, the church is to stand fast in the truth of the gospel. That seems easier said then done when we are hard pressed on all sides but Paul gives us the key ingredients to rock solid faith:

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Yesterday in Sunday School we talked about the brevity and uncertainty of life; in other words life is short and we don’t know how it is going to turn out. At least we don’t know the specifics of how this life on earth will unfold. James advises us on that:

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” (James 4:13-16)

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This year I finally bit the bullet and joined a fantasy baseball league. Those who know me know how big of a San Francisco Giants fan I am. I love baseball and I’ve heard all the horror stories of baseball fans getting involved in fantasy leagues to the point of ridiculousness. Some even go as far as lose contact with reality and start neglecting all other things for the sake of their “team.”

I can almost see how that can happen. My fantasy baseball team is not doing so well; in fact it’s the worse team in the league. Now the majority of my team is made up of San Francisco Giants players so one would naturally think that the actual Giants team is probably in last place too. While they are not playing up to their potential, especially their pitching staff, they are still 13-7 and one game out of first place in the National League West Division.

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Today is Earth Day and my first inclination is to mock nature worshippers, because some are indeed worthy of mockery. However, the Holy Spirit reminded me this morning that they are only doing what they’ve been wired to do…what we’ve all been wired to do…worship. It is the object of our worship that matters most to God.

We can look to the Old Testament for numerous examples of God’s people worshipping the created instead of the Creator. In remembrance of God’s forgiveness for their ancestors’ sins, the Psalmist wrote:

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Is there anything more frustrating for a Christian than someone you have witnessed to who believes in Christ but will not confess Him because of how it may be received by others? That frustration is not a rare emotion; in fact a couple of days before Christ was crucified, He experienced that same frustration:

“Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Then Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.’” (John 12:42-45)

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I’ve decided to combine the last step in our spiritual growth with its ultimate destination. Brotherly kindness is heavenly linked to love, which agape love is our ultimate destination in our spiritual growth. When we learn to love like Jesus loves, then we have arrived as a Christian. Loving like Jesus does is humanly impossible. It takes amazing grace to have this type of love. It is not human love; it is spiritual love.

The Greek word we get brotherly love from is philadelphia, yes the word from where we get our Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love as it is known. This word literally means “love for the brethren.” The brethren are fellow believers; members of the Body of Christ. If we are going to grow into Christlikeness, we must love our brothers and sisters in Christ. it is not optional:

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My pastor uses a most excellent word for perseverance: stickability. It means sticking to the task no matter how great the challenges. It means never giving up on God because He is never giving up on us. It means giving all diligence to our spiritual growth.

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” (2 Peter 1:5-9)

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We have many enemies in this world. Our greatest enemy, for those without Christ, is death. Death is the enemy of God. God created life; Satan created death, despair, and disease. Suffering is the antithesis to creation. As you read the creation story in Genesis 1 you see death, despair, and disease were not a part of the original plan. In fact when God finished, the Bible tells us:

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)

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My nephew Michael has made an honest and valid request. My family has faced great tragedy again. My niece Cheryl, Michael’s younger sister, was killed early Sunday morning in a head on collision. She had just turned 34 last Wednesday.

A few hours later, Michael’s uncle, my only brother Stephen, died from a rare pneumatic virus that took his life in less than 72 hours. He was only 52 and leaves behind a wife, children, grandchildren, and three sisters and me his brother.

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If we were to be perfectly honest, I would guess that 75% of Christians struggle the most with self-control – especially men. Whether it be lusts of the flesh, our tongues, covetousness, whatever the issue, we struggle with self-control. For many of us, we try to get to a level of temperance without first building our faith, integrity, and Biblical wisdom. And it’s not a destination either; we have to maintain those if we are to achieve and sustain self-control.

At times I like to pat myself on the pat if I have “a good week” of walking the straight and narrow, but I really shouldn’t:

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In his second epistle, the Apostle Peter gives us seven steps to spiritual growth.

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8)

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So how do we keep from backsliding, and once we find ourselves in such a state how do we get back? The answer is simple but the execution is not always easy. It dovetails with trying to figure out God’s will for our lives. I’ve written this before but it bears repeating: so many Christians struggle with trying to figure out God’s will for their lives. Well, do you do what you already know what God wants you to do? If you know what God wants you to do, then do what He wants you to do. Jesus said:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

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We never just walk away. We are prone to wander. That’s why Jesus called us sheep. Without following the sound of our Shepherd, by not remaining with the flock, we wander off. We walk into all types of danger. That’s why Jesus told the Parable of the Lost Sheep in Matthew 18 of the rejoicing of one found, not one saved, but of one found that has returned. (see Luke 15 for one saved).

“Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 10-14)

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Yesterday my pastor, Dr. Dennis Brunet, preached from one of my favorite passages in the Bible. This passage saw me through a very difficult time in my life. When I first came across it, it so soothed my hurting heart that the only piece of paper I could find in my room was an envelope. I wrote this passage on the envelope and carried it with me every where I went. It became very worn from unfolding and folding it dozens of times. It literally brought me the peace of God:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7)

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Random House Dictionary defines fearlessness as “without fear; bold or brave; intrepid.” Intrepid means to be “resolutely fearless; dauntless.” Let’s rest on this last definition. To be resolutely fearless means I am resolved not to fear. It doesn’t mean fear wont’ come, it means I am resolved not to fear. What’s the difference? The difference is I am not going to focus on my fears when such thoughts and emotions come. I am going to change my focus from my fear to my Father. It means having faith in a faithful Father:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:1-4)

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I want to write a little more on fear. Fear is a real emotion, but as the acronym teaches fear is false evidence appearing real. Yesterday I wrote we cannot be worried about what man will do to us. Our eyes must forever be on God:

“I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:5-6)

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With the two percent increase in my Social Insecurity taxes, my annual take home pay is down around $1300 annually. That’s a big chunk of change for any family. That covers the annual maintenance we budget for both cars. Karen and I are going to have to be a little more cautious where we spend money. We love to go out and eat and just hang out and so perhaps that will have to be curtailed. Nevertheless, I can tell you where I won’t be cutting back. I won’t be cutting back on my tithing.

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.” (Malachi 3:8-9)

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