As human beings, it is often difficult for us to admit or accept the fact that we live in a kind of binary, on-and-off, yes-and-no, black and white world. We insist on more choices that offer us the freedom of keeping our options open: of avoiding binding commitments.
The wedding my wife and I attended today was the old-fashioned kind. One man and one woman stood there before a preacher, dressed in virginal white, repeating solemn vows to remain faithful to each other, “forsaking all others...’til death us do part.” This form of covenant, a no-turning-back commitment of sexual exclusivity, was devised by man and woman’s Creator for the purpose of populating the world, forming stable homes and thus, stable societies...
And for the sublime additional purpose of embodying a joyful, transcendent, growing and deepening attachment known as LOVE.
Married love between man and woman takes place on what may be regarded as a horizontal plane. But the urges we feel both in our physical bodies and in our spiritual beings speak to us of a kind of ought-ness when it comes to marriage--the need to be bound to another. Another like ourselves and yet unlike ourselves. One who will complement and complete us, yet fully accept us as we are. One who will then challenge and inspire us to become much more than we are.
That kind of desire cannot be adequately explained on a purely horizontal basis. It comes from another direction. Another place. Another Mind. Another’s divine design.
The human spiritual experience is meant to be very similar to this deep urge to join oneself to another person. Augustine, the bishop-philosopher of old, is famous for saying that God created us for Himself and thus, we are restless until we find our rest in Him. Notwithstanding the atheist who insists that human personhood is merely a chance convergence of random chemicals, any serious student of humanity will admit that, as a race, we are incurably impelled in the direction of the metaphysical. As a species, we KNOW that there is Someone “out there.”
On the physical plane, a man desires more than just ANY woman to supply the proper equipment for mating and mutual stimulation and progeny. A man wants to bond on a transcendent, emotional, spiritual level. Because he knows himself as more than a biological machine, he insists on something much deeper and higher than a mechanistic marriage.
The same thing applies on a spiritual plane between a human being and the universe. Instinctively, a man or woman knows that Someone is there, beyond the visible, tangible, measurable realm of physical experience. Someone who created, who controls, who caters to our needs, who cares for our souls. Someone we want very much to know about, and to KNOW.
The big problem I face, however, is one of ability. Do I have the power to transcend the physical and explore the metaphysical so as to find this transcendent Being and be joined to Him? Yes, many have attempted such a journey, whether in their own imaginations, or through chemical or emotional enhancements, or by dabbling with demonic powers. The results have often been disappointing...dangerous...doubtful...even tragic.
Plus, what kind of reference point do I have to measure the “truth” I find during such subjective spiritual forays into the unknown? How much of the data I collect could be merely imaginative self-talk between my conscious and subconscious minds? How much of it could be deception or demonic propaganda from the “other side”? Who is even qualified to sift through such findings?
What so many people find too simple and obvious to grasp is that this Someone we all know must dwell in the realm beyond our own, is not hiding from us, requiring us to find and learn of Him by our own unaided efforts.
He has been in contact with us for thousands of years. He has spoken to us through the ordinary device of human language. He has performed significant, miraculous acts throughout several millenia of human history. He has actually entered into our history personally by taking on a genuine human nature. He has divided our calendars into two major divisions, B.C. and A.D. He has even offered Himself as a suffering, dying, rising, ascending God-man, so that our cosmic crimes against our loving Creator can be forgiven and forgotten!
One of the God-man’s apostles, Paul, who previously hunted down Christians to their death, eventually gave a speech to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill in the city of Athens. Paul’s audience was made up of men who loved to “keep their options open.” They were described as doing nothing but discussing the latest ideas--the popular theories of the day. Paul admitted that they were all quite religious. He had observed the plethora of idol shrines lining the streets of Athens, and had been greatly disturbed by them.
Paul knew what was missing in their idolatrous, speculative searching: they lacked the direct, black-and-white, take-it-or-leave-it revelation of the true God. These Athenians may have had access to the Hebrew scriptures that predicted the coming of the God-man. But Paul had the first-hand knowledge of Jesus Christ that could turn their searches in the right direction.
The truth Paul shared with them amounted to this: There is only one God (not many), He dwells everywhere (not in temples or single localities), He created all things (including people), He wants all people to turn to Him in repentance, He will bring the whole world of people to final judgment, and the Judge He has appointed is One who was raised from the dead.
That is only one historical account from the Book our God has given us. Either we can accept the Holy Bible as His infallible, reliable source of revelation about Himself and His will for us, or we can reject it.
Those who have decided that some or all of this Book cannot be trusted, truly have NO reliable authority by which they can make such a decision. They are simply choosing NOT to choose, which is just a fancy way of saying “no” to God’s revelation. They are content to fall back on their own fallible, unaided attempts to “find God” by mere human means.
Do you strongly suspect that Someone is out there for you spiritually? Believe it or not, this thing is NOT complicated. Someone IS there. He wants you to turn to Him even more than you ever could want it. He explained Himself and His desires for you in a Book called the Holy Bible.
He proved His love for sinners by sending His Son Jesus. The main character of His Book.
Read about Him. Meet Him. Bow to Him. Trust Him. Follow Him.
It really is just that simple.
MNA
10/8/2016
Showing posts with label spiritual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiritual. Show all posts
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Just That Simple
Trained as a music teacher in Philadelphia, I directed music and worship in several churches for over 20 years. My family and I settled in northern Indiana where until recently I worked in the truck building industry. My goal in writing is to cheer the heart, challenge the soul, and glorify Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
Just That Simple
As human beings, it is often difficult for us to admit or accept the fact that we live in a kind of binary, on-and-off, yes-and-no, black and white world. We insist on more choices that offer us the freedom of keeping our options open: of avoiding binding commitments.
The wedding my wife and I attended today was the old-fashioned kind. One man and one woman stood there before a preacher, dressed in virginal white, repeating solemn vows to remain faithful to each other, “forsaking all others...’til death us do part.” This form of covenant, a no-turning-back commitment of sexual exclusivity, was devised by man and woman’s Creator for the purpose of populating the world, forming stable homes and thus, stable societies...
And for the sublime additional purpose of embodying a joyful, transcendent, growing and deepening attachment known as LOVE.
Married love between man and woman takes place on what may be regarded as a horizontal plane. But the urges we feel both in our physical bodies and in our spiritual beings speak to us of a kind of ought-ness when it comes to marriage--the need to be bound to another. Another like ourselves and yet unlike ourselves. One who will complement and complete us, yet fully accept us as we are. One who will then challenge and inspire us to become much more than we are.
That kind of desire cannot be adequately explained on a purely horizontal basis. It comes from another direction. Another place. Another Mind. Another’s divine design.
The human spiritual experience is meant to be very similar to this deep urge to join oneself to another person. Augustine, the bishop-philosopher of old, is famous for saying that God created us for Himself and thus, we are restless until we find our rest in Him. Notwithstanding the atheist who insists that human personhood is merely a chance convergence of random chemicals, any serious student of humanity will admit that, as a race, we are incurably impelled in the direction of the metaphysical. As a species, we KNOW that there is Someone “out there.”
On the physical plane, a man desires more than just ANY woman to supply the proper equipment for mating and mutual stimulation and progeny. A man wants to bond on a transcendent, emotional, spiritual level. Because he knows himself as more than a biological machine, he insists on something much deeper and higher than a mechanistic marriage.
The same thing applies on a spiritual plane between a human being and the universe. Instinctively, a man or woman knows that Someone is there, beyond the visible, tangible, measurable realm of physical experience. Someone who created, who controls, who caters to our needs, who cares for our souls. Someone we want very much to know about, and to KNOW.
The big problem I face, however, is one of ability. Do I have the power to transcend the physical and explore the metaphysical so as to find this transcendent Being and be joined to Him? Yes, many have attempted such a journey, whether in their own imaginations, or through chemical or emotional enhancements, or by dabbling with demonic powers. The results have often been disappointing...dangerous...doubtful...even tragic.
Plus, what kind of reference point do I have to measure the “truth” I find during such subjective spiritual forays into the unknown? How much of the data I collect could be merely imaginative self-talk between my conscious and subconscious minds? How much of it could be deception or demonic propaganda from the “other side”? Who is even qualified to sift through such findings?
What so many people find too simple and obvious to grasp is that this Someone we all know must dwell in the realm beyond our own, is not hiding from us, requiring us to find and learn of Him by our own unaided efforts. He has been in contact with us for thousands of years. He has spoken to us through the ordinary device of human language. He has performed significant, miraculous acts throughout several millenia of human history. He has actually entered into our history personally by taking on a genuine human nature. He has divided our calendars into two major divisions, B.C. and A.D. He has even offered Himself as a suffering, dying, rising, ascending God-man, so that our cosmic crimes against our loving Creator can be forgiven and forgotten!
One of the God-man’s apostles, Paul, who previously hunted down Christians to their death, eventually gave a speech to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill in the city of Athens. Paul’s audience was made up of men who loved to “keep their options open.” They were described as doing nothing but discussing the latest ideas--the popular theories of the day. Paul admitted that they were all quite religious. He had observed the plethora of idol shrines lining the streets of Athens, and had been greatly disturbed by them.
Paul knew what was missing in their idolatrous, speculative searching: they lacked the direct, black-and-white, take-it-or-leave-it revelation of the true God. These Athenians may have had access to the Hebrew scriptures that predicted the coming of the God-man. But Paul had the first-hand knowledge of Jesus Christ that could turn their searches in the right direction. The truth Paul shared with them amounted to this: There is only one God (not many), He dwells everywhere (not in temples or single localities), He created all things (including people), He wants all people to turn to Him in repentance, He will bring the whole world of people to final judgment, and the Judge He has appointed is One who was raised from the dead.
That is only one historical account from the Book our God has given us. Either we can accept the Holy Bible as His infallible, reliable source of revelation about Himself and His will for us, or we can reject it. Those who have decided that some or all of this Book cannot be trusted, truly have NO reliable authority by which they can make such a decision. They are simply choosing NOT to choose, which is just a fancy way of saying “no” to God’s revelation. They are content to fall back on their own fallible, unaided attempts to “find God” by mere human means.
Do you strongly suspect that Someone is out there for you spiritually? Believe it or not, this thing is NOT complicated. Someone IS there. He wants you to turn to Him even more than you ever could want it. He explained Himself and His desires for you in a Book called the Holy Bible.
He proved His love for sinners by sending His Son Jesus. The main character of His Book.
Read about Him. Meet Him. Bow to Him. Trust Him. Follow Him.
It really is just that simple.
MNA
10/8/2016
The wedding my wife and I attended today was the old-fashioned kind. One man and one woman stood there before a preacher, dressed in virginal white, repeating solemn vows to remain faithful to each other, “forsaking all others...’til death us do part.” This form of covenant, a no-turning-back commitment of sexual exclusivity, was devised by man and woman’s Creator for the purpose of populating the world, forming stable homes and thus, stable societies...
And for the sublime additional purpose of embodying a joyful, transcendent, growing and deepening attachment known as LOVE.
Married love between man and woman takes place on what may be regarded as a horizontal plane. But the urges we feel both in our physical bodies and in our spiritual beings speak to us of a kind of ought-ness when it comes to marriage--the need to be bound to another. Another like ourselves and yet unlike ourselves. One who will complement and complete us, yet fully accept us as we are. One who will then challenge and inspire us to become much more than we are.
That kind of desire cannot be adequately explained on a purely horizontal basis. It comes from another direction. Another place. Another Mind. Another’s divine design.
The human spiritual experience is meant to be very similar to this deep urge to join oneself to another person. Augustine, the bishop-philosopher of old, is famous for saying that God created us for Himself and thus, we are restless until we find our rest in Him. Notwithstanding the atheist who insists that human personhood is merely a chance convergence of random chemicals, any serious student of humanity will admit that, as a race, we are incurably impelled in the direction of the metaphysical. As a species, we KNOW that there is Someone “out there.”
On the physical plane, a man desires more than just ANY woman to supply the proper equipment for mating and mutual stimulation and progeny. A man wants to bond on a transcendent, emotional, spiritual level. Because he knows himself as more than a biological machine, he insists on something much deeper and higher than a mechanistic marriage.
The same thing applies on a spiritual plane between a human being and the universe. Instinctively, a man or woman knows that Someone is there, beyond the visible, tangible, measurable realm of physical experience. Someone who created, who controls, who caters to our needs, who cares for our souls. Someone we want very much to know about, and to KNOW.
The big problem I face, however, is one of ability. Do I have the power to transcend the physical and explore the metaphysical so as to find this transcendent Being and be joined to Him? Yes, many have attempted such a journey, whether in their own imaginations, or through chemical or emotional enhancements, or by dabbling with demonic powers. The results have often been disappointing...dangerous...doubtful...even tragic.
Plus, what kind of reference point do I have to measure the “truth” I find during such subjective spiritual forays into the unknown? How much of the data I collect could be merely imaginative self-talk between my conscious and subconscious minds? How much of it could be deception or demonic propaganda from the “other side”? Who is even qualified to sift through such findings?
What so many people find too simple and obvious to grasp is that this Someone we all know must dwell in the realm beyond our own, is not hiding from us, requiring us to find and learn of Him by our own unaided efforts. He has been in contact with us for thousands of years. He has spoken to us through the ordinary device of human language. He has performed significant, miraculous acts throughout several millenia of human history. He has actually entered into our history personally by taking on a genuine human nature. He has divided our calendars into two major divisions, B.C. and A.D. He has even offered Himself as a suffering, dying, rising, ascending God-man, so that our cosmic crimes against our loving Creator can be forgiven and forgotten!
One of the God-man’s apostles, Paul, who previously hunted down Christians to their death, eventually gave a speech to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill in the city of Athens. Paul’s audience was made up of men who loved to “keep their options open.” They were described as doing nothing but discussing the latest ideas--the popular theories of the day. Paul admitted that they were all quite religious. He had observed the plethora of idol shrines lining the streets of Athens, and had been greatly disturbed by them.
Paul knew what was missing in their idolatrous, speculative searching: they lacked the direct, black-and-white, take-it-or-leave-it revelation of the true God. These Athenians may have had access to the Hebrew scriptures that predicted the coming of the God-man. But Paul had the first-hand knowledge of Jesus Christ that could turn their searches in the right direction. The truth Paul shared with them amounted to this: There is only one God (not many), He dwells everywhere (not in temples or single localities), He created all things (including people), He wants all people to turn to Him in repentance, He will bring the whole world of people to final judgment, and the Judge He has appointed is One who was raised from the dead.
That is only one historical account from the Book our God has given us. Either we can accept the Holy Bible as His infallible, reliable source of revelation about Himself and His will for us, or we can reject it. Those who have decided that some or all of this Book cannot be trusted, truly have NO reliable authority by which they can make such a decision. They are simply choosing NOT to choose, which is just a fancy way of saying “no” to God’s revelation. They are content to fall back on their own fallible, unaided attempts to “find God” by mere human means.
Do you strongly suspect that Someone is out there for you spiritually? Believe it or not, this thing is NOT complicated. Someone IS there. He wants you to turn to Him even more than you ever could want it. He explained Himself and His desires for you in a Book called the Holy Bible.
He proved His love for sinners by sending His Son Jesus. The main character of His Book.
Read about Him. Meet Him. Bow to Him. Trust Him. Follow Him.
It really is just that simple.
MNA
10/8/2016
Trained as a music teacher in Philadelphia, I directed music and worship in several churches for over 20 years. My family and I settled in northern Indiana where until recently I worked in the truck building industry. My goal in writing is to cheer the heart, challenge the soul, and glorify Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Salt and Light
One of the most basic and challenging problems of being faced with biblical truth, is the problem of the conventional voices we hear all around us: voices that present themselves as “common sense” while, biblically, they are known as “worldly wisdom.”
Horrific episodes such as world wars, mass murders, despotic regimes, sex trafficking, crime waves and the like, leave no doubt that our world is a broken, hurting, often desperate place. Yet, contrary to what the Scriptures teach, a myth continues to prevail in the thinking of average people that unaided human effort will be able, given enough time, money, education, unification, government programs and legislation, to cure this sick world we live in.
At the beginning of Jesus Christ’s most famous sermon--the Sermon on the Mount, after listing the virtues that encapsulate the character of His followers (the Beatitudes), the Lord launches into His stirring interpretation of the law of God. Throughout His message to His disciples, Jesus continues to emphasize the inner spirit of the law, making the point that even the most pious outward behavior of the most devoted law-keeper (such as your average Pharisee) is not enough to earn entrance into God’s eternal presence and blessing.
One can readily see that this is why Christ’s sermon started with a Beatitude countdown, designed to include both outward actions such as mourning and peacemaking, and inner attitudes like poorness of spirit and purity of heart. His listeners there in the First Century, every bit as much as readers here in the Twenty-first, tend to limit their attention and energies to the urgent business of “doing the right thing,” while neglecting the inner spirit of the law. Not only is it crucial to give attention to both inner and outward aspects of God’s requirements in order to please our Maker...it is also crucial in the practical battle of curing the world’s ills!
Even the most heroic human efforts to quash the forces that cause moral darkness and decay, end up leaving the root cause of the disease unaddressed. This root cause is what theologians have called “original sin,” and the only divinely prescribed remedy is what Jesus Himself described as a new birth--a birth from above (see John chapter 3).
In Matthew 5, immediately after the Beatitudes section, we read Jesus’ famous words to His disciples: “You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world.” Was He simply engaging His followers with a rah-rah-style pep talk meant to energize them before He sent them out to change the world with their unaided manpower? No. He had already listed character traits that set the standard far higher than a merely human cross-bar. These qualities were clearly ones that necessitate a profound, supernatural, spiritual heart transplant!
Let’s paraphrase this for a moment: Jesus told them, “You followers of mine, you who are poor in spirit, weep over your sins, are known for your meekness, yearn to be right with God, are quick to forgive and sacrifice for others, major on keeping a clear conscience, do all you can to heal all grievances, follow after godliness even when it costs you everything...you are salt and light for the rottenness and darkness of this sin-sick world!”
Can we agree that these traits are pretty far off the radar screen for your average heroic type-A human problem-solver? What government initiative or non-profit bureaucracy even pretends to see these as job qualifications for its agents of progress? Only one organization on earth can lay claim to such a roll-call of spiritual prerequisites--the one Jesus claimed He would build on the foundation of the prophets and apostles...the one He would empower to overrun the very gates of Hell.
The shocking, earth-shaking point the Savior is making in this pronouncement is that His church, made up of born-again believers who receive and obey His truth with childlike faith, they are the ones He is counting on to reverse the tide of global corruption and bring the floodlights of divine truth to the darkened corners of Satan’s dominion.
Christian leader, worker, teacher, businessman, official, dad, mom, teenager, writer, blogger, athlete, couch potato, whatever...
Christian: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.
Christian: Go and spread your saltiness on others. Go and shine the light of God’s Good News.
Christian: Do it now. Do it today. Do it everywhere and anyway you can.
God has no other plan.
Horrific episodes such as world wars, mass murders, despotic regimes, sex trafficking, crime waves and the like, leave no doubt that our world is a broken, hurting, often desperate place. Yet, contrary to what the Scriptures teach, a myth continues to prevail in the thinking of average people that unaided human effort will be able, given enough time, money, education, unification, government programs and legislation, to cure this sick world we live in.
At the beginning of Jesus Christ’s most famous sermon--the Sermon on the Mount, after listing the virtues that encapsulate the character of His followers (the Beatitudes), the Lord launches into His stirring interpretation of the law of God. Throughout His message to His disciples, Jesus continues to emphasize the inner spirit of the law, making the point that even the most pious outward behavior of the most devoted law-keeper (such as your average Pharisee) is not enough to earn entrance into God’s eternal presence and blessing.
One can readily see that this is why Christ’s sermon started with a Beatitude countdown, designed to include both outward actions such as mourning and peacemaking, and inner attitudes like poorness of spirit and purity of heart. His listeners there in the First Century, every bit as much as readers here in the Twenty-first, tend to limit their attention and energies to the urgent business of “doing the right thing,” while neglecting the inner spirit of the law. Not only is it crucial to give attention to both inner and outward aspects of God’s requirements in order to please our Maker...it is also crucial in the practical battle of curing the world’s ills!
Even the most heroic human efforts to quash the forces that cause moral darkness and decay, end up leaving the root cause of the disease unaddressed. This root cause is what theologians have called “original sin,” and the only divinely prescribed remedy is what Jesus Himself described as a new birth--a birth from above (see John chapter 3).
In Matthew 5, immediately after the Beatitudes section, we read Jesus’ famous words to His disciples: “You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world.” Was He simply engaging His followers with a rah-rah-style pep talk meant to energize them before He sent them out to change the world with their unaided manpower? No. He had already listed character traits that set the standard far higher than a merely human cross-bar. These qualities were clearly ones that necessitate a profound, supernatural, spiritual heart transplant!
Let’s paraphrase this for a moment: Jesus told them, “You followers of mine, you who are poor in spirit, weep over your sins, are known for your meekness, yearn to be right with God, are quick to forgive and sacrifice for others, major on keeping a clear conscience, do all you can to heal all grievances, follow after godliness even when it costs you everything...you are salt and light for the rottenness and darkness of this sin-sick world!”
Can we agree that these traits are pretty far off the radar screen for your average heroic type-A human problem-solver? What government initiative or non-profit bureaucracy even pretends to see these as job qualifications for its agents of progress? Only one organization on earth can lay claim to such a roll-call of spiritual prerequisites--the one Jesus claimed He would build on the foundation of the prophets and apostles...the one He would empower to overrun the very gates of Hell.
The shocking, earth-shaking point the Savior is making in this pronouncement is that His church, made up of born-again believers who receive and obey His truth with childlike faith, they are the ones He is counting on to reverse the tide of global corruption and bring the floodlights of divine truth to the darkened corners of Satan’s dominion.
Christian leader, worker, teacher, businessman, official, dad, mom, teenager, writer, blogger, athlete, couch potato, whatever...
Christian: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.
Christian: Go and spread your saltiness on others. Go and shine the light of God’s Good News.
Christian: Do it now. Do it today. Do it everywhere and anyway you can.
God has no other plan.
Trained as a music teacher in Philadelphia, I directed music and worship in several churches for over 20 years. My family and I settled in northern Indiana where until recently I worked in the truck building industry. My goal in writing is to cheer the heart, challenge the soul, and glorify Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
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