"The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."John Wesley Powell is a name not well recognized today … he was the one-armed, Civil War hero-explorer of an American national treasure, The Grand Canyon and it's great Colorado River.Genesis 2:22-24
Something not well known by many people is a place Powell named “Separation Rapid.” This is where three men separated from the main party and attempted to walk out of the canyon by themselves.
What precipitated this separation? A major dilemma! The Powell party had earlier lost one of its four boats and over half their food to the river. The rapids they now faced were more menacing than anything they had previously encountered.
Normally they “portaged” (i.e., carried) their huge wooden boats around such difficulty, but here it was impossible. Two choices were available to the explorers: 1.) abandon the exploration and walk out, into uncharted and hostile territory; 2.) face their fears and plunge headlong into the rapids, trusting themselves to make it.
Three chose the former, while the seven remaining men chose the latter. To everyone’s surprise the rapids only had the appearance of omnipotence; within minutes they cleared “Separation Rapid,” unscathed and with all their provisions. The three separators were never heard from again.
Many times marriage presents seemingly impenetrable obstacles which in fact have only “the appearance of omnipotence.”
In many cases it is true that the couple cannot “portage” their marriage around the obstacle. However, facing their fears and forging ahead, trusting in the grace of God [Matthew 19:26; 2 Corinthians 12:9], may bring a Grand Canyon-like surprise. Taking the “separation” route in marriage is fraught with danger, many have taken it to their great detriment.
When couples come seeking my counsel I remind them a marriage is similar to a front lawn, right out there in the public’s eye: if it’s nurtured and maintained it will serve them all the days of their lives, even though some must periodically be cut nearly to the roots; if ignored, abused, or trampled on it will die.
Showing posts with label Consecration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Consecration. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2008
MARRIAGE: Separation is not the answer!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
ATONEMENT: Understand what finished work looks like!
"Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit."In a Reader’s Digest article entitled “Fast-Track Fundamentals” by Richard A. Moran, a series of proverbs was supplied to remind career-oriented people of things they all too often don’t know or forget.John 19:30
One of these maxims was: "Understand what finished work looks like and deliver your work only when it is finished."
Jesus knew what finished work looked like and didn’t quit until His Father’s work was accomplished.
[Reader’s Digest, date unknown, 112-114; condensed from “Never Confuse A Memo With Reality,” Moran, © 1994, HarperCollins, NY.]
PERSEVERANCE: Washing Your Car to Success
"But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance."It was a strange place to have a motivational poster … the Men’s Room at a car wash; then again who’s surprised at anything these days. The message read: “PERSEVERANCE … never give up for that is the place the tide will turn.”Luke 8:15
The message is clear: “Keep on trying, you can make it, don’t quit. Persevere in reaching for the things the world offers, they are available to any who will try hard enough.” And you can do this while you’re having your car washed.
On the other hand, God also calls us to persevere; we’re to do this after we have received His free washing. But Jesus has said the tide will not turn unless you are born-again; unless you come to Him as a little child.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
BORDER CHRISTIANS: To Whom Do They Belong?
“No one can serve two masters … ”The next time you look at a map notice the lines between the countries? Every map has them; they divide one state or country from another. They’re called “borders.”Matthew 6:24 (also Luke 16:13)
In fact, every nation on earth has borders, real ones. Without borders no one would know where one nation began and another ended. A border lets us and others know where we’re standing … in this land or in that land. You can’t stand on a border; you’re either in one land or in the other or straddling the line … period.
Does the border belong to either country? Does the border between the Canada and USA belong to Canada or the United States? Does any one know?
Sadly, many Christians are like borders today, every church has them. I call them “Border Christians”; no one knows to whom they belong! They believe they can keep one foot in heaven and one foot on earth … “just in case.” Is that possible?
Not according to the Bible. The Lord Himself said, “No one can serve two masters … .” I don’t think He would mind me paraphrasing that: “No one can be standing in heaven and in earth at the same time.”
CONSECRATION: Let’s Get Cirrus!
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus”Freshly graduated from seminary, a minister of a small Texas church in an area suffering from drought, went to visit a farmer-church member one hot afternoon.John 12:20-21
Leaning on a fence, they discussed the weather. "Those are serious clouds over there," the old man said, pointing southwest. "Don’t you mean Cirrus? Actually, they're probably Cumulus," the newcomer stated somewhat smugly.
The old man eyed him for a moment, then said, "Yung'un, they's just two kinds of clouds -- them what's serious and them what ain't."
Church folks are like that farmer’s clouds; some’re serious, some ain’t!
[Adapted from "Life In These United States" by All Henager; © 1996; The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., all rights reserved]
Friday, June 24, 2005
LIFE - The newness of true life!
WITHOUT SPOT OR BLEMISH! [Romans 3:23; Cleanliness, Consecration, Holiness, Righteousness, Sin]
Any one who has traveled to Switzerland immediately notices how spotlessly clean the country seems to be – from their snow capped mountains, to their crystal-pure lakes, from their alpine glades to their doll-like villages.
Even their money seems spotless and to crackle with crispness; every bill looking and feeling new. Old bills are plucked from circulation before they rip or even the hint of a stain can disgrace them. Each year around one-third of all Swiss bank notes are removed from the public’s grasp at a cost of over 20 million Swiss francs (roughly $15 million). The old bills are burned in a furnace.
Why do they bother, why can’t they be more like the British or the Americans? Because, says the chief cashier of the Swiss National Bank, “The first thing you see when you arrive … is the money. It’s like a national identity.” [Adapted from an article by Bhushan Bahree in The Wall Street Journal]
In other words, the Swiss take their image very seriously. This causes me to ask, “What if God wanted a spotlessly clean world like the Swiss want a spotlessly clean country?”
What if God decided to pluck up people before they became too stained or blemished by life? What if one-third of the human race was shuffled off to heaven and hell each year because of the blotch of sin on their lives? After all, the first thing you see when you arrive is people in the delivery room.
The reasons He doesn’t are simple: first, “God so loved the world”; second, “God sent His Son” while we were sin blotched; third, the Good News would not be good news at all; and, fourth, God expects us to keep our-selves unstained from the world [James 1:27; 1 John 2:15-17; 1 Peter 1:13-19]. This doesn’t even address the implied promises in Isaiah 42:1-4.
How sad the Body of Christ has more problems with its image than Switzerland has with its.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
DISCIPLINE - What the student is supposed to learn!
GENTLE PERSUASION! [Hebrews 12:7, 8 (9-13); other topics - body (Church), chastisement, surrender]
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
In order to blend eggs by hand, the eggs are broken into a bowl designed for that purpose. The cook then takes a wire whip and aggressively whips the eggs. More often than not one egg yolk will refuse to cooperate; the cook must stop the whipping and deliberately break the obstinate yolk.
God desires the body of Christ be a blended whole; He desires each of His children have “a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart.” [Psalm 51:17]
Chastisement (discipline) is never a pleasant thing. But God desires each child work, properly and supplying the essence of who he or she is according to his or her gifts. This causes “the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” [Ephesians 4:16]
Predictably, one member won’t break under the gentle persuasion of the Lord; in such a case, breaking is called for.
How wonderful it would be if we could all fear God, yet not fear the strengthening process of His discipline.
IN FULL UNIFORM! [Ephesians 6:13; Armor (of God), Discipleship, Preparation, Sanctification]
Somehow, the young man found himself standing directly in the path of an oncoming car, the driver hit her brakes; but before either of them could do anything it seemed the ten-year-old was shoulder deep in the windshield of the automobile. “Are you alright,” asked the driver. From inside the football helmet a squeaky voice responded, “I think so!”
The boy, a participant in Pop Warner Football, was on his way home from practice, in full uniform. The driver saw the boy too late to stop; the boy saw the car too late to get out of the way.
It is unnecessary to explain why we are admonished to ...“take up the full armor of God, that [we] may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”Much like the ubiquitous seat belt, the armor of God is, for the most part, unused by believers today. And yet the devil, that self-centered maniac who drives blind, loves to plow through unprotected children on the King’s highway.
God has provided the armor; but He has left it to us to put it on, one piece at a time. Why we don’t is a mystery. Perhaps it’s “won’t” rather than “don’t.” Perhaps the devil is not the only creature that’s self-centered.
JESSE WHO? [Matthew 10:26; Body life, Commitment, Consecration, Holiness, Righteousness]
Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
Thomas Firbank, in I Bought A Star, tells of a conversation he had with a formula race driver; he asked the professional why he took time to paint and polish the undercarriage as well as all of the other unseen parts of his race car. The driver responded, “If the metal is spotlessly clean, I can see at once if there is a flaw.”
The church needs to adopt this attitude; sanding, grinding, buffing, prepping, painting, and polishing every unseen part. Not so God can “see at once if there is a flaw,” nothing is hidden from His sight [Hebrews 4:13] ... so that we can see our own flaws.
Holiness is from God but the holiness of the saints is not; that responsibility rests wholly on our shoulders!
Soldiers are taught field discipline during peacetime, in the barracks. Polished boots and buckles, along with carefully folded underwear, are not needed during peacetime, nor are they essential for barracks’ life. This discipline is for the field during wartime. In the field, attention to detail IS essential … it cannot be learned under stress, nor is there time to do so! Every boot camp Drill Instructor knows this!
Every army knows (or quickly learns) it is a malicious policy which says during training, “We need not bother the men with the details; they’ll pick them up as they need them in the field.”
Too frequently today we are witnessing an undisciplined demeanor among “the saints”; worse, we are seeing it promoted by many of their instructors.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
CONSECRATION - AKA: spiritual surrender!
SOWING ROTTEN SEED! [Matthew 13:1-23; Consecration, Giving, Nature (old vs. new), Surrender]If at one of our church potlucks the cooks decided to serve us leftovers, how would we feel?Say they prepared a scrumptious feast but instead of serving it to us they set the best aside for themselves and served us what was left?Say the pastor’s wife took the new sack of potatoes home for her family, then mashed the old spuds under the sink, the ones with the mold, for the guests?In far too many ways the church is treating God in much the same way? How often do we set aside the best for ourselves and give God what’s left over?Oh some will say, “I always write my tithe check first.” But let’s ask them, “What about your service to the Lord? Do you serve Him first before you serve others or yourself?” Let’s ask them, “What about your talents? Does He get the best of your ability and your intellect?The Church must remember the main point of the “widow’s mite”? Recall that the Lord’s focus wasn’t the amount which was given, it was the heart attitude before, during, and after the act.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Sovereignty (of God)
God as A Waiter (or God as A Relief Pitcher) [Amos; Malachi; 2 Timothy 3:5; other topics - Commitment]
The generation just past crowded God to the boundaries of life, while the present generation is shoving Him over the edge.
Oh, we want Him around when it’s useful, but we don’t want Him intruding when it isn’t. We see Him like a waiter at a party, standing silently against the wall until needed. He is then beckoned with the hand, to come and serve or to clear the dishes.
Sometimes, we see Him like a relief pitcher in a major league bullpen, hidden from view until the team is in trouble … we then beckon him to come in and save the game for us."God is a Gentleman, if you ask Him to stay out of your government, your courts, your schools, your businesses, or your homes ... He will oblige you." [Ruth Graham Lotz, paraphrased][Paraphrase - Hubbard, David Allan; “Why Can’t I Worship God My Own Way?,” Amos: God Speaks to an Age Turned Sentimental; Themes from the Minor Prophets: A Bible Comm. for Laymen; Regal Books, 1980 p.37]
Sunday, January 02, 2005
PREPARATION: Clothed, but exposed!
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son." ...In California we have several toll roads which have been built by private groups; electronic transponders scan each car as it enters, recording a code from a permit tag the owner has purchased.
"But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless.
Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."Matthew 22:1-2, 11-14
One of my sons recently received a ticket for driving on one of these roads without the proper tag on his truck; he was lost and did not know his way. His ticket arrived by mail; the accompanying fine was substantial.
In the wedding feast parable as told by our Lord, one guest arrives without proper wedding clothes. The king had the man bound and thrown out.
At His own feast, the Lord Himself will scan those who wish are in attendance, and immediately identify those who are lost and know not the Way. Only those who are properly attired will be allowed to attend the Lord’s feast. Those found without the proper clothing won’t receive a ticket or a fine, rather, they will be bound hand and foot and thrown "into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
