Worship God at All Times; Revelation 17-19

May the mumbling commence!

Worship is important.  It is essential to worship properly.  Worshiping properly is a focus of the letter of Revelation.  Read from chapter nineteen:

Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures prostrated themselves and worshipped God who is seated upon the throne, saying, "Amen, alleluia!"

Then out of the throne came a voice, saying, "Praise our God, all you who serve him, all you who reverence him, both small and great!"

And then I heard a sound like the voices of a vast crowd, the roar of a great waterfall and the rolling of heavy thunder, and they were saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, has come into his kingdom! Let us rejoice, let us be glad with all our hearts. Let us give him the glory, for the wedding-day of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. She may be seen dressed in linen, gleaming and spotless – for such linen is the righteous living of the saints!"

Then he said to me, "Write this down: Happy are those who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb!" Then he added, "These are true words of God."

At that I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "No! I am your fellow-servant and fellow-servant with your brothers who are holding fast their witness to Jesus. Give your worship to God!" (This witness to Jesus inspires all prophecy.) (Verses 4-10)

Worship is celebration.  Alleluia – praise the Lord!  Rejoice and be glad in all our hearts.  Give God the glory.  Serve God.  Reverence the Almighty One.  Join the chorus of thanksgiving and praise that resounds throughout the entire creation.

But please note: we are to give our worship only to God.  In case we missed that point of emphasis, we have the interchange between the writer and the angel.  Do not worship your fellow servants.  Hold fast to our witness of Christ Jesus.  Give worship only to God.

How upbeat!  How ironic in the midst of one of the worst natural disasters to hit one of the United States most populated areas!  How can God be in the devastation and lost lives?  We beat our breasts and ask: Where were you, O God, when Tropical Storm Sandy hit the east coast?  Where were you, O Lord of heaven and earth, when the northeaster combined forces with Sandy?

All these honest and faithful wonderings lead us back to the other emphasis of the letter of Revelation.  Endure.  Though our world may seem to be unraveling before our very eyes, endure.  We have a greater hope than the richest and most decadent Babylon’s of all time.

We have hope in the coming kingdom of God.  So let us worship God!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out  

Endure; Revelation 14-16

May the mumbling commence!

The letter of Revelation can be distressing and confusing.  So, we must ask ourselves this question: What message is Christians supposed to get out of it?  Two major themes run through the letter.  One is worship.  The other is capsulated in one verse from chapter fourteen:

In all this stands the endurance of the saints – those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (Verse 12)

It is a simple call for endurance.  Too many times, when Revelation is the topic, we get bogged down in trying to make sense or identify what the monstrous images and natural calamities are.  When we get bogged down in this discussion, we miss the point of the letter.

Endure.  Keep the commandments of God.  Keep faith in Jesus.

Endure.  Endure no matter what may come.  We have a hope to look forward to that is sure.  Look to Jesus and follow his way.  In so doing, you will fulfill the commandments of God.  And Jesus is there when we stumble.

We cannot know what all the images meant.  We can speculate.  But, to try to match them with current events is shaky theology at best.

There it is.  Worship the Lord alone.  Endure all hardships, and keep the faith of Jesus’ way.

That is the main message of the letter of Revelation in a nutshell.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Called Not Compelled; Revelation 11-13

May the mumbling commence!

Don’t be deceived.  Satan and his allies often use the mask of being a messenger of life.  Though they may imitate godliness, they cannot duplicate it.  Read from Revelation chapter thirteen:

Then I saw another animal rising out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb but it spoke in the voice of a dragon. It uses the full authority of the first animal in its presence. It compels the earth and all its inhabitants to worship the first animal – the one with the mortal wound which had healed.

It performs great signs: before men's eyes it makes fire fall down from heaven to earth. It deceives the inhabitants of the earth by the signs which it is allowed to perform in the presence of the animal, and it tells them to make a statue in honor of the animal which received the sword-thrust and yet survived. Further, it was allowed to give the breath of life to the statue of the animal so that the statue could speak and condemn to death all those who do not worship its statue.

Then it compels all, small and great, rich and poor, free men and slaves, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads. The purpose of this is that no one should be able to buy or sell unless he bears the mark of the name of the animal or the number of its name. (Verses 1-17)

How does this imitate godliness?  Fire comes down from heaven at their command.  Resurrection of their leader from a mortal wound also imitates Christ.  They are also able to give life to their creations.

On their own, these can be convincing proofs of divinity. 

But there are red flags everywhere.

God does not compel anyone to worship, yet these beings do.  No one is told to worship or die.  And no one is compelled to do anything in order to be allowed to participate in society. 

Commerce and trade are available to all.  Worship is open to all people.  But there is no coercion.

Food and drink are given freely.  All that we need, God provides – for both the good and the evil.

So, beware of coercion.  Beware of being railroaded by anger or hate to think, say or do things.  Beware of people who insist on their own way. 

These actions strongly contrast with the way of the meek and the humble.  The meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), and the humble will be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3).

Let us never insist on our own way.  Instead, let us seek together the perfect and pleasing will of God.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Tuck In; Revelation 8-10

May the mumbling commence!

Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Sweet to my mouth is the Word of God.  Yet, sometimes, it does not sit well in the stomach.  Sometimes, it does nothing but twist and contort our bowels.  Sometimes, the Word of God is gut-wrenching. 

Why is this so?  It asks of us deep change that we integrate into our very beings – just as we integrate some of the food that we eat into our very bodies.  We are what we eat!

Read how the Word of God set in the mouth and the stomach of the writer of Revelation – from chapter ten:

Then the voice which I had heard from Heaven was again in my ears, saying, "Go, and take the little book which lies open in the hand of the angel whose feet are planted on both sea and land."

So I went off towards the angel, asking him to give me the little book. "Take it," he said to me, "and eat it up. It will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth."

Then I took the little book from the angel's hand and swallowed it. It was as sweet as honey to the taste but when I had eaten it up it was bitter to my stomach. (Verses 8-10)

Angel means messenger of God – one who carries the Word of God.  Go to the messengers of God for this day – the pastors, evangelists, preachers, and teachers of the Church.  Go to the people who work on the fringe and provide the prophetic witness.  And eat the words they have to tell you.

If they are God’s Word, they will taste sweet to the mouth but turn sour in your stomach.  If we are warned in this way, why would we choose to eat?!?

Because it is good.

Think about state fairs all around the country.  Think of all those deep-fried foods.  They are sweet in the mouth, but they sure can turn our digestion and regularity sour fast!  Yet we eat them.  And they are good… but not good for us.

Well God’s Word is both good and good for us.  There is nothing better to eat – to integrate into the very fabric of our lives.  It will mean change – deep and lasting change.  It will turn sour in our stomachs. 

But it is in our very best and eternal interests – today, tomorrow and into the future.  Eternity is more than about duration.  Eternity with God is about quality – where the best is always yet to come.

Recline and the table and tuck in!  God’s Word is the best buffet it town.  And it’s all you can eat.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Celebrate! Revelation 5-7

May the mumbling commence!

I have spent the past couple of days at a district-wide retreat called “The Gathering”.  Its theme was “Get off Your Pew and Join the Celebration”.  The kingdom of God is here!  There is no greater cause to celebrate.  Read about the celebration in heavenly realms from Revelation chapter seven:

When this was done I looked again, and before my eyes appeared a vast crowd beyond man's power to number. They came from every nation and tribe and people and language, and they stood before the throne of the Lamb, dressed in white robes with palm-branches in their hands. With a great voice they shouted these words: "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb!"

Then all the angels stood encircling the throne, the elders and the four living creatures, and prostrated themselves with heads bowed before the throne and worshipped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be given to our God for timeless ages!"

Then one of the elders addressed me and asked, "These who are dressed in white robe – who are they, and where do they come from?!

"You know, my Lord," I answered him.

Then he told me, "These are those who have come through the great oppression: they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they now have their place before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits upon the throne will be their shelter. They will never again know hunger or thirst. The sun shall never beat upon them, neither shall there be any scorching heat, for the Lamb who is in the centre of the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Verses 9-17)

A vast crowd in white robes is without number.  Now, there are large numbers in Revelation.  To be without number is mind-boggling.  They are as the stars of the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore.

Who are these people from every nation and tribe and people and language?  They are those who have endured with faith through all the various trials of life and have remained steadfastly attached to the Lamb – to Christ Jesus.  Their robes are white (they are counted as righteous) because they have washed their lives in the blood of the Lamb.

They are free!  And they use their freedom to worship God – “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne at to the Lamb!”  The angels and elders and heavenly creatures join in the worship – in the celebration.  “Amen!  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be given to our God for timeless ages!”

They are free to serve God night and day in his temple.

In return for this right relationship, God gives us much more than we can dream or ask or imagine.  We will be sheltered – from hunger and thirst and noonday sun.  The Lamb will shepherd us to springs of living water.  Every tear will be wiped away from our eyes.

To be in the presence of God.  To know God.  To worship God.  To serve God.  We were made for these things.  We no longer need to live a life of lies and deceptions.

Now, that is cause to celebrate!

Let’s do it!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

One Essential for the Christian Church; Revelation 2-4

May the mumbling commence!

We, as a church, can look at the things we are doing and find many things going right – most things actually.  From the outside, the church can appear to be healthy – like the Church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter two.  Read the letter to that church:

"Write this to the angel of the Church in Ephesus:

'These words are spoken by the one who holds the seven stars safe in his right hand, and who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know what you have done; I know how hard you have worked and what you have endured. I know that you will not tolerate wicked men, that you have put to the test self-styled 'apostles', who are nothing of the sort, and have found them to be liars. I know your powers of endurance – how you have suffered for the sake of my name and have not grown weary.

But I hold this against you, that you do not love as you did at first. Remember then how far you have fallen. Repent and live as you lived at first. Otherwise, if your heart remains unchanged, I shall come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Yet you have this to your credit that you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I myself detest.

Let every listener hear what the Spirit says to the Churches: 'To the victorious I will give the right to eat from the tree of life which grows in the paradise of God.' (Verses 1-7)  

Ephesus is a hardworking church.  Ephesus is a church that has endured for the sake of the Name.  Through all of this, the church of Ephesus has not grown weary.  They see wicked people for what they are.  They test all those people who claim to speak for Christ – and find the liars, among whom are the Nicolaitans.

This letter seems like a glowing recommendation when we focus on these things.  Other churches might see this vital and growing church and be envious and wish to emulate their apparent success.  Not so fast!

Look at what is not said about the Ephesus church.  They know wicked people for who they are.  They uncover the liars among the apostles that come to them.  But nothing is said of recognizing true messengers from God!

And there is one fly in the ointment.  You do NOT love as you first did.  All that hard work and suffering has taken its toll.  The Ephesus church has become jaded.

They have fallen hard and far.  They are called to repent.  It seems that most things are going fine, but the most important element is missing – LOVE.

And this is serious business.  If we do not repent of a loveless existence, our place as a lampstand is in jeopardy.  What is a lampstand anyway?  Well, the Revelation tells us a little earlier: “The secret meaning of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches and the lampstands are the Churches themselves. (1:20)" 

The status of the church as a church is at stake.  The identifying mark of the Church that follows Christ is lost.  And that identifying mark is love.  Christians will be known by their love.  Christ will walk alongside a church that loves.

Light and love and life always come from following Christ.  The other things that a church does are important, sure; but the only essential thing is love.

Let us never forget this truth.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Crossing Our "T's"; Jude

May the mumbling commence!

Grace is given freely, without regard to merit – that is part of the definition of the word.  But grace is not a license to be immoral.  Jude says this quite clearly:

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who have obeyed the call, who are loved by God the Father and kept in the faith by Jesus Christ – may you ever experience more and more of mercy, peace and love!

I fully intended, dear friends, to write to you about our common salvation, but I feel compelled to make my letter to you an earnest appeal to put up a real fight for the faith which has been once and for all committed to those who belong to Christ. For there are men who have surreptitiously entered the Church but who have for a long time been heading straight for the condemnation I shall plainly give them. They have no real reverence for God, and they abuse his grace as an opportunity for immorality. They will not recognize the only master, Jesus Christ our Lord. (Verses 1-4)

Like Jude, we often want to devote our time together in mutual edification – the path of learning more and more about our common salvation.  Instead, we find ourselves bogged down in controversies.  And we become divided.  When this happens Satan is smiling.

We get lost in controversies that are secondary.  We major in the minors of faith and life.  It is the road to condemnation.

Reverence for God is lost when it is my way or the highway.

When we get caught up in our own little worldviews, we become myopic.  We understand God’s grace for us and no one else.  We pursue self-righteousness while we continue in our sins.  We find it much easier to point out the sins of others rather than confront and repent from our own sins.

God’s grace is not a license to judge and condemn others.  God’s grace is not a license to continue in sin.  God’s grace is not a license for immorality.  God’s grace is an invitation to transform immorality into immortality.

Immorality and immortality…  Only a difference of one “t” between them – but oh the difference in meanings!  When we accept the mercy offered to us through the cross (a “t” in form) and Christ’s resurrection, we add the extra “t” to immorality and get immortality.

That is how mercy leads us.

Grace leads us to be the people God created us to be.

We need to worry less about other peoples’ walk with God and worry more about our own walk.  Let us join together in our journey to Jesus – back into right relationship with God and all creation.  We will accomplish better together with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

As we walk together with the Spirit, we will recognize Jesus better and better.  We will see him both in places we expect and in places that we do not expect.

Let us cross that “t”.  Accept God’s mercy through Christ, and embrace grace.  God’s grace has the great power to transform individuals and communities.

May that grace start here in me.

May it be so.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out   

Christ Lives through Our Love; 1 John 4-5, 2 John

May the mumbling commence!

I have seen enough youth athletic events to know for certain that there are many fathers and mothers and uncles and aunts who are trying to live their life through a son or daughter or nephew or niece.  Who are you living your life for?  If someone to live their life through you, who would you want it to be?

The simple answer for Christians is that they would like Christ to live through them.  And, it is possible – with the right attitudes, thoughts, words and actions.  Read from First John chapter four:

 We ourselves are eye-witnesses able and willing to testify to the fact that the Father did send the Son to save the world. Everyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God lives in him, and he lives in God. So we have come to know and trust the love God has for us.

 God is love, and the man whose life is lived in love does, in fact, live in God, and God does, in fact, live in him. So our love for him grows more and more, filling us with complete confidence for the day when he shall judge all men – for we realize that our life in this world is actually his life lived in us. Love contains no fear – indeed fully-developed love expels every particle of fear, for fear always contains some of the torture of feeling guilty. This means that the man who lives in fear has not yet had his love perfected. (Verses 14-18)

What forms us to allow Christ to live through us?  It is all about love.  Live your life in love, and you will live in God – for God is love.

And love does not stagnate.  It continues to grow and grow.  Knows that the debt of love is NEVER paid in full.

In this loving way, Christ lives through us and we reveal the Father to all who come across our path.

And make no mistake about it.  Love demands risk-taking.  Love contains risks but no fear.  There is no fear in love because all love comes from above – from God.  Love from God is perfect and will perfect us through trials and time.

In case you missed it, love is essential to the Christian life.  Christians will be known for their love – not for who or what they hate.  We can find this essential message in Second John:

I was overjoyed to find some of your children living the life of truth, as the Father himself instructed us. I beg you now, dear lady, not as though I were issuing any new order but simply reminding you of the original one, to see that we continue to love one another. Real love means obeying the Father's orders, and you have known from the beginning that you must live in obedience to him. (Verses 4-6)

In this life, we often hear of truth and obedience.  Both of these have as their foundation love.  Never doubt it.  If we strive for truth and obedience and neglect love, we fail – epically.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Glamour Unmasked By Light; 1 John 1-3

May the mumbling commence!

Have you ever heard of calling a spade a spade?  That is what the author of First John encourages us to do in the second chapter.  Read the passage below:

Never give your hearts to this world or to any of the things in it. A man cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time. For the whole world-system, based as it is on men's primitive desires, their greedy ambitions and the glamour of all that they think splendid, is not derived from the Father at all, but from the world itself. The world and all its passionate desires will one day disappear. But the man who is following God's will is part of the permanent and cannot die. (Verses 15-17)

For God so loved the world…  Never give your heart to this world…  It can be confusing.  What is meant when we are told not to give our hearts to this world or to any of the things in it?

Indeed, God loves the world that he created.  We are to embrace the creation as God does.  To do so, we must begin to see the world through the eyes of Jesus – by the guiding of the Holy Spirit.  Then, love the world that God has created.

God does not love the human conception of the world.  Too much of what we see with human wisdom is colored by our human desires and passions.  These are primitive desires.  They are greed for ME, ME, ME.  It is the glamour of the deception that everything is about me.  Indeed, these ideas are splendid and do hold a certain sort of beauty.

Don’t believe the lie.  One day each of us will succumb to death.  It is the fate of all mortal bodies.  One day the things that we considered so beautiful will deteriorate and disappear.

None of this glamour is from God.  Glamour is only a poor reflection of the true light – God.

Take what God freely gives all who call on the name of His Son, Jesus.  Seek after God’s will and follow it.  When we do, our mortal bodies will be transformed into immortal bodies that are permanent and cannot die.

Love the world as God intended creation and as God see creation.  Love NOT the human conceptions of the world.  Most of these “wisdoms” are based upon the lies of Satan – who continues his first deception: “Eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and you will be like God.”

We were already created in the image of God.  We need no other embellishments on that truth.  Seek God and you will know yourself better – the way that God intended when He created you.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Transforming Lust into Love; 2 Peter

May the mumbling commence!

God is love.  On this, the Scriptures are clear.  What is the opposite of love?  The first answer that comes to my mind is hatred.  But the devil knows the true opposite of love.  The opposite of love is deceptive – as is anything that the devil promotes.  The opposite of love in some small insignificant ways is akin to love.

The opposite of love is lust.  That says it best.  And it means that, as a country and a world, we are in trouble.  Read from Second Peter chapter one:

He has by his own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life, in allowing us to know the one who has called us to him, through his own glorious goodness. It is through him that God's greatest and most precious promises have become available to us men, making it possible for you to escape the inevitable disintegration that lust produces in the world and to share in God's essential nature.

For this very reason you must do your utmost from your side, and see that your faith carries with it real goodness of life. Your goodness must be accompanied by knowledge, your knowledge by self-control, your self-control by the ability to endure. Your endurance too must always be accompanied by devotion to God; that in turn must have in it the quality of brotherliness, and your brotherliness must lead on to Christian love.

If you have these qualities existing and growing in you then it means that knowing our Lord Jesus Christ has not made your lives either complacent or unproductive. The man whose life fails to exhibit these qualities is short-sighted – he can no longer see the reason why he was cleansed from his former sins. (Verses 3-9)

Through Jesus Christ, God has given us everything that we need to live a godly life.  God has opened an escape route, a U-turn, in our lives.  From what do we turn?  We turn from lust that the world produces in great quantities.  And that lust inevitably leads to our disintegration.

Indeed, lust can lead to hatred.  Lust can lead to envy.  Lust can lead to theft.  Lust can lead to adultery (in all its meanings in the Bible).  Lust can lead to lies.  Can you see a pattern here?  It seems that lust in some way underlies the commission of sin in the breaking of the Ten Commandments that God handed down to us.

How horrid!  How do we start our turn from lust?

1)    Have faith in God and in Jesus.

2)    Allow that faith in Jesus to saturate your life through the gift of the Holy Spirit, who will lead you into real goodness in life.  The Holy Spirit will show the counterfeits for what they truly are – deceptions.  That, by definition, is full repentance from sins.

3)    Study the goodness that the Holy Spirit of God puts before you.

4)    Learn self-control.

5)    Endure!

6)    Devote yourself totally to God.  (It seems we’ve in some ways returned to step number one.)

7)    Treat everyone as next-of-kin in your life.

8)    Watch Christian love bloom in your life.

9)    Cleanse your life.  And repeat the process.

Turning from lust is a life-long journey.  Without this journey in our lives, we will become focused too much on the things that are at our feet – and miss the curves in the narrow path before us.  Without this journey in our lives, we will forget the reason for our cleansing and fail to fully repent – return to God in fullness of relationship.

Leave behind the many lusts of this world and take up Christian love.

Amen.  May it be so.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Overalls are Formal Wear; 1 Peter 3-5

May the mumbling commence!

You might be a redneck if you think overalls are formal wear! 

The Philips’ translation of First Peter chapter five talks about the “overall” of humility in serving each other.  Talk about the perfect advertisement for Osh-Kosh-B-Gosh!  Read the passage below:

You younger members must also submit to the elders. Indeed all of you should defer to one another and wear the "overall" of humility in serving each other. 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble'.

So, humble yourselves under God's strong hand, and in his own good time he will lift you up. You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern. (Verses 5-7)

Let us humble ourselves in overalls.  Yes, that clothing that is connected with the innocence of childhood and the hard work and patience of a farmer.  Put those overalls on, and don’t spare the suspenders!

The things that we wear under the overalls have much to do with deference.  That means not insisting on our own way.  What a novel and seldom used thought!  Pride can take a hike, while humility and grace can restore the chaotic mess to beautiful life.

And, when we humble ourselves, we count on God to lift us up.  Even as God lifts us, we will find our worries and anxieties melt into harmless puddles around our feet.  Did you know that you are God’s personal concern?  It’s true.

Let us revel in that wonderful Good News.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Spring Cleaning; 1 Peter 1-2

May the mumbling commence!

Time to clean out the closets!  Time to clean underneath the bed!  Time to sweep under the rugs as well!  Yes, it is time to be clean.  It is high time to welcome Christ transforming power into our lives.  Read from First Peter chapter one:

So brace up your minds, and, as men who know what they are doing, rest the full weight of your hopes on the grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ reveals himself. Live as obedient children before God. Don't let your character be molded by the desires of your ignorant days, but be holy in every department of your lives, for the one who has called you is himself holy. The scripture says: 'Be holy, for I am holy'. (Verses 13-16)

All our hopes and dreams are invested in Jesus.  Our hopes and dreams are well placed.  Fall totally into the arms of Jesus.

What does this look like?  We will live obedient lives – obedience toward God.  It means being holy in every department of our lives.

When I read this statement, I thought of fancy department stores that neatly compartmentalize our lives.  There is the wardrobe section and the kitchen section and the hardware section and the electronic section.  Never the twain shall meet.

God knows better.  Everything in our lives is interconnected.  Our very lives and relationships are interconnected.  We can truly claim to do very little (if anything on our own).  The same can be said of our failures.  We stand together, and we fall together.

It means cleaning out all the closets and glove compartments of our lives.  We need to clean out the physical ones and the spiritual ones and the attitudinal ones.  It is a spring cleaning with its roots in the resurrection of Christ – which we celebrate in the spring of the year.

Spring is lovely.  It is a time for new hope and new growth.  And this time is made possible by letting go of the things that die in the winter seasons of our lives.

Let us chase after God’s own heart.  Let us run the race to be holy, for our Lord is holy.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Pursue Godly Wisdom; James 2-4

May the mumbling commence!

Chasing the wisdom of humanity is useless.  Pursuing godly wisdom is another thing entirely.  Godly wisdom leads to life, while worldly wisdom leads to death.  Read from James chapter three:

Are there some wise and understanding men among you? Then your lives will be an example of the humility that is born of true wisdom. But if your heart is full of rivalry and bitter jealousy, then do not boast of your wisdom – don't deny the truth that you must recognize in your inmost heart. You may acquire a certain superficial wisdom, but it does not come from God – it comes from this world, from your own lower nature, even from the devil. For wherever you find jealousy and rivalry you also find disharmony and all other kinds of evil.

The wisdom that comes from God is first utterly pure, then peace-loving, gentle, approachable, full of tolerant thoughts and kindly actions, with no breath of favoritism or hint of hypocrisy. And the wise are peace-makers who go on quietly sowing for a harvest of righteousness – in other people and in themselves. (Verses13-18)

There are many things in this world that masquerade as wisdom but produce only rivalry and jealousy and arrogance.  These wisdoms are only superficial.  They do not come from God but from the world.  They promote the disharmony of the devil instead of the harmony of God.

Carefully examine anything that calls itself wisdom and promotes disharmony.  It is suspect.

True, godly wisdom has another MO.  Godly wisdom is pure, peace-loving, gentle, approachable, kindly, and righteous-seeking.  There is to be no favoritism or hypocrisy.  To obtain these attitudes, Christians must seek to see all issues from the perspective of the disadvantaged and the vulnerable.

Too often, the Scriptures are used by a dominate power to condone their own self-centered agendas.  Remember that Scriptures were once used to condone and even promote the institution of slavery.  Remember that Scriptures are often used to exclude women from church leadership positions.  Scriptures are also used to condone issues of racism and classism. 

When these things and things similar to them happen, Satan smiles.  We often create artificial divisions and pretend they are insurmountable.  But, what do they look like from God’s vantage point – the viewpoint of the vulnerable, the oppressed, and the disadvantaged?  We must answer this question together and include all perspectives.

Satan sees open and compassionate dialogue and trembles with fear.  Let us add our voices and stories.  Let us lend our ears to the voices and stories of others.

May it be so.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out