Articles

A WAY TO BE SMARTER

It has been observed that the higher the intelligence of an animal the greater is its capacity to play--to do things for the pure enjoyment without a purpose of survival, reproduction, etc. Thus, that an otter will play and a worm will not is a sign of the otter's superior intelligence. My point isn't to say humans should play more frequently to illustrate they are the most intelligent. My point is an observation that is also true: Only the living being with the greatest intelligence—the human—consciously, intentionally, worships. Atheists like to posture as the most intelligent of us humans. However, could their lack of worship indicate a lack of intelligence--perhaps, not of mere native IQ, but of moral and metaphysical IQ? They would say it is unintelligent to believe in God; reality is, it is unintelligent not to. Rather than the claim of the atheist elite that to worship God is unintelligent, the reality is that to not worship is unintelligent. Is it not observable that people who do NOT sincerely worship God engage in the dumbest of activities? Think of the self-destructive behavior of those who will not worship God. Those people or those societies that turn from worshiping God always embrace behavior that is in the end harmful, weakening, and destructive. How intelligent is that? “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” (Psa 14:1). Paul says of those who have rejected the reality of God: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” (Rom 1:22). It is in this that play and worship are comparable: Both are evidences of intelligence. We should neither worship our play nor play at our worship. Both, however, are evidences of the intelligence we derived from being created in the image of the All Intelligent One. Could I just say it? Worship is smart. And, furthermore, could we not worship as we play simply for the pleasure of it? Both the pleasure we receive in our souls and the pleasure it brings our Father God? There truly is a way to be smarter: Worship.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT WAS APPLAUDED

This is no attack on her. What happened, whatever it says about her, it says far more about America, society, and the condition of peoples' hearts. Recently, on a morning show of a major network one of the hostesses on that show announced her recent marriage. That was applauded. Then, a clip was shown of her making an announcement in front of the guests at the reception. Standing beside her husband, speaking into a microphone so that all could hear, she told the crowd, "We are four months pregnant." What struck me wasn't so much her being four months pregnant on her wedding day-pregnancy before marriage and the fornication that occasions it has sadly become commonplace. What was so disturbing to me was the reaction of the guests: They began to stand, clap, whistle, scream, with evident delight. It wasn't polite acknowledgment. It was exuberant approval. It wasn't a few. It was the majority. Behavior God says is sin, wrong, destructive to humanity was openly applauded and approved. How could the moral decay of our society not be by design? All God says is wrong is being openly promoted, practiced, and praised. All God says is right is booed, belittled, badmouthed. I wondered about an imagined scenario: What if the same crowd were at another wedding reception. At this reception, the groom and bride standing in front, the bride speaks in the microphone and says for all to hear. "I have kept myself for this day for my husband. We have each saved ourselves in purity for this day." That, perhaps, would be a little awkward making such an announcement at such a time. But, imagine it was humbly made. What would be the reaction of the same crowd? Oh, there may have been some polite, obligatory clapping, especially from some of the older, old fashion folks. But would there have been cheering, whistling, a standing ovation? The point is the announcement of pregnancy was approved and applauded. The second would be ridiculed, criticized. True to the prophetic description of a backslidden people, the time has come when good is called evil and evil good. (Isa. 5:20) God, send America another awakening.

NONNIE, COME DOWN!

Nonnie, come down!” Recently, I had the pleasure visiting and of staying with my elder daughter and her family. Currently, they are building their home and until its completion live in a downstairs apartment in my daughter’s in-laws’ house. That’s where the “Nonnie” comes from. Nonnie is my grandkids’ paternal grandma. Downstairs, there is a chain lock high up on the frame, out of the reach of the children on the lower level’s side of the door to keep the grandkids from escaping to the upstairs. My first morning there, sitting in the front room where this door to the upstairs also happens to be, I saw my three year old grandson coming down the hall, having just woke up, bed hair sticking up this way and that, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and still in his Spiderman pajamas. That door to the upstairs is at the end of the hall as one enters the living room where I sat. Before he asked for breakfast, before he said “Morning” to his mother, before he acknowledged his visiting grandfather, as soon as he reached the end of the hall, he jerked opened the door as far as the chain would allow, stuck his head through the crack and yelled upstairs, “Nonnie, come down!” I thought that was really striking and turned to my daughter and asked. “Does he do that every morning?” She laughed and replied, “Yes, every morning.” My first thought was, “What if we believers began each of our days like that?” What if every morning we awakened, looked upward, and cried, “Jesus, come down.” Apostle John spent twenty-two chapters recording what he glimpsed through the crack that revelation had opened in the door that separates time and eternity. Having seen what was going to happen on this side of the door and what awaited on the eternity side, John shouted up through the opening, “Jesus, come down.” (Revelation 22:20). Out of the mouth of babes…”Nonnie, come down.”

NOT A BEETLE IN A BUCKET

The irony is, as I discovered anew on a road trip this week, we actually miss it and long to return to the security of it when out of it.. What's "it"? The endless, mundane routine our life settles into. Human existence consists of an endless cycle of repetition on every level. There is a same old, same old routine for a day, a week, a month, a year, and a lifetime. Even our planet has its routine. Consisting of personal hygiene, eating, working, sleeping, cooking, chores, maintenance, etc., cyclic routine is the norm for our lives. The Teacher of Ecclesiastes points this out in his opening remarks and shares his conclusion: This endless cycle of life, nothing ever new just a constant repeat of what has already been around, makes life meaningless, or more mildly put, boring. A ditch digger in Chicago a century or more ago pegged the feeling: "I dig the ditch to get the money to buy the food to get the strength to dig the ditch." Being a melancholy by temperament, I've thought a lot about this-life being reduced to the common denominator of an endless cycle of existence. It made me think of a beetle trapped at the bottom of a bucket. Looking for a way out and unable to climb the bucket's sides, that beetle will crawl around and around and around the inside circumference of that bucket until it dies. That is the description of human existence that we get from the Teacher. The beetle in a bucket analogy may have been darkly depressing, but I had a follow up vision: It came from trudging on through the despair of Ecclesiastes. There is a key phrase for understanding this book that describes the meaninglessness of life. It is "under the sun." Factoring in only the horizontal plane of human existence, only that which is "under the sun," life IS a meaningless cycle. You live. You die. That's all there is. But, stop! What if there is more to life than that which is "under the sun"? What if there is God, heaven, eternity? What if there is an "above the sun." And there is. Does that take the seemingly endless cycle out of life? No. But it does give life direction, meaning. Here is the second "vision" I had. Think of the spring coil that binds a spiral notebook. If you were to take it from the notebook and begin to trace your finger along the wire, your finger would go around and around. Yet, as you continued to hold the wire vertical and follow the cycles of the wire, your finger at the same time it is going around and around would also be going up. Life for the believer indisputably has the same endless cycles of routine as it does for the unbeliever. But it also has direction. In all the routine, your life is headed somewhere, making ground. It has meaning. The seemingly endless cycles of our lives are not those of the beetle in a bucket but of the rising coils of a spiral notebook's binder.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

He was called Brother Lawrence. Only a few letters he wrote and a few notes on conversations with him written by others exist, but this man has had great influence on many hungry Christians' lives. Brother Lawrence lived in the 1600's. He devoted his life to a community of monks. The challenge that he left believers was that they could "practice the presence of God." He said that it was possible to experience God at any and every moment. I do not want to debate his life nor his beliefs, but he continually emphasized one thing that is a real challenge. He taught that a big part of "practicing the presence of God," was to "do little things for the love of God." Bro. Lawrence hated kitchen work, yet, he was assigned to be the cook for the whole community. He had a natural aversion to the work and hated the thought of it, but he determined to do each task for the love of God, that is, to show his love for God. Each act, however undesirable or deplorable, he would do as an act of devotion and love to God-he peeled potatoes for the love of God. In doing this, he found great joy and a great sense of God's presence. Wouldn't it transform our lives in home, at work, and in the church if we would only do each task before us as an act of love to God? We cannot show love to God except through concrete acts to humanity. That is why Jesus said that if we did it unto even the least of humanity, we did it unto Him. "For the love of God" can be more than an expression to use when making an appeal. It can be a way of living. It can be a way of practicing the presence of God. For the love of God, try it!

CAN THE BODY OF CHRIST GET CANCER?

The body is the great analogy that Paul gave to describe a healthy functioning church. He did so to show that each has an important role. Since we most readily think of cancer as figure of sin, that is probably what came to mind when I asked, "Can the Body of Christ Get Cancer." However, there is something else I mean by cancer. Paul's analogy breaks the body down into anatomical parts where the members are eyes, ears, mouth, hand, etc. Perhaps, he would forgive me if I broke the analogy down even further to the cells that make up those eyes, ears, mouth, hand, etc. It is the cells I want to consider. Can there be cancer cells in the body of Christ? Sadly, I must answer, "yes." If you could forgive a crude layman's understanding of a cancer cell, think about the following contrast of a cancer cell in the body and a normal cell: A normal cell exists and functions for the benefit of the whole body. Whether a heart, skin, stomach, nail, or hair cell, it is there for the body. On the other hand, a cancer cell exists only for itself. It is in the body, but everything about the cancer cell is about itself. The normal cell takes in sustenance that it might grow and benefit the body. A cancer cell takes in sustenance to benefit only its own malignant growth. A normal cell is sensitive to the needs of the cells around it and receives signals of those needs. A cancer cell is oblivious to any needs but its own. It does not hear the signals of the needs of other cells. Normal cells always develop into a specific type of cell that plays a specific role in the body. A cancer cell never develops into anything that plays a specific role. A normal cell always adheres to the cells around it. A cancer cell has no ability to adhere. I know you have already understood. Some people are cancer cells in the Body of Christ. Everything is about them. It has to be their song, or they are not singing. It has to be their party, or they are not showing up. It must be their preacher, or they are not amen-ing. Their feelings, their preference, their desires are all they consider. They must be blessed. They must be babied. They must be catered to. It is never about the other cells or the body as a whole. A cancer cell is a normal cell gone bad. Simply put, a cancer cell is one whose growth and behavior will not be controlled. A cancer cell in the body is a person that has never submitted his own self, feelings, desires, needs, to a greater purpose. Every person that makes church only about himself is a cancer cell. Every one that makes church about the good of the body will be a growing, healthy, contributing normal cell.

Not A Little Less A Caterpillar, Pt. 2

Being a Christian isn’t about the difference of degree but of kind. A Christian’s heart isn’t a little better, a little cleaner; it is a new, changed heart, a different kind of heart. A Christian’s lifestyle isn’t a little purer; it is a completely different lifestyle. No longer a drunkard, the believer does not want to drink less; he doesn’t want to drink at all. No longer impure, the Christian does not, though tempted, seek out carnal gratifications. He does not stop looking at porn online but substitute in its place the bathing suit issue of Sports Illustrated. No longer filthy hearted, the Christian is no longer filthy mouthed. It isn’t just that the Christian is less a drunkard. He is no longer a drunkard. It is not that a Christian is less promiscuous. He is now dedicated to fidelity. It is not that his heart has been made less sinful. He has been given a new heart. Thank God! It is theological and reality suicide to suggest that the Christian is free from carnal and worldly temptation. That eradication will only take place at the time of future glorification of this body. The difference is, the Christian’s new heart detests and rejects these carnal desires instead of embracing and justifying them. Notice this truth of it-isn’t-a matter-of-degree-but-of-kind in this biographical note of a king of Israel, which by inspiration was included, I believe, to reveal, among other things, this very truth: “And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother:.”(2Ki 3:2-3). Inarguably, Jehoram was not as evil as his father Ahab. He even got rid of some of the idols. That did not mean he was one of God’s true people. To be less sinful in degree is not to have a changed heart, be a changed person. Thank God, upon our true surrender to Him, He gives us a new heart that leads to a life that is, not just less evil than that of the wicked, but a whole new way of living: “A new heart also will I give you, ..:and cause you to walk in my statutes, ...” (Eze 36:26-27). Years ago one of our kids snared a caterpillar and kept it in the house in a glass jar. Not long after, it disappeared into the cocoon it spun. The kids were at school, and I was in my study when my wife yelled, “Come here. You got to see this.” We marveled together as a Monarch Butterfly struggle from the cocoon and soon began to stretch and fan its unfurled wings. I mused long at this wonder of God’s creation. I knew it was the same insect as the caterpillar, but its transformation was so complete and radical it was hard to believe. It was so different. Now, if the caterpillar had of struggled out of the cocoon still a caterpillar only with a few less legs, a few less stripes, and a not quite as ugly face, I may have paused briefly but would not have marveled. There is no marvel in a caterpillar becoming less a caterpillar. That would not even be an improvement. It would still be a caterpillar. But, oh the transformation of that caterpillar into a butterfly--that is the work of God. No, a truly converted believer is not less a caterpillar. He, set free from the cocoon of sin, is a beautiful new creation, a butterfly.

Not A Little Less A Caterpillar, Pt1

The message of Paul, that much of the modern American church seems to fail to grasp, is that becoming a Christian isn’t about one simply becoming not quite as sinful as the world around him but is about his having a radical, complete, revolutionary transformation of his whole person and life. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Co 5:17). Being a Christian isn’t about the difference of degree but of kind. A Christian’s heart isn’t a little better, a little cleaner; it is a new, changed heart, a different kind of heart. A Christian’s lifestyle isn’t a little purer; it is a completely different lifestyle. Statistically, American Christianity seems to believe that being a Christian is, in fact, a difference of degree: These are already several years old statistics: 27% of non-Christians will buy a lottery ticket this week. 23% of Christians will. 87% of non-Christians will watch a movie with nudity in it. 76% of Christians will. Several researches have revealed that the rate of sex-before marriage among evangelical “Christian” youth is almost the same as that among non-Christian youth. These statistics seem to bear out that the common accepted concept of a Christian’s life is viewed as a difference of degree not kind. When such becomes the case, the difference in degree will rapidly shrink. “Christians” don’t get drunk, but they do have a “few.” Christians don’t say “G*d d*mn.” They euphemistically substitute with “Gosh Dang.” This isn’t legalistic nit picking; it is simply illustrative of the point. Years of erroneously proclaiming a message that, since salvation isn’t performance based, the “saved’s” performance doesn’t matter either has taken its toll. It is true that my becoming saved is not based on my performance—thank God; it is not true that my being saved does not affect my performance. Salvation is not performance based. Salvation is by grace. But, the saved have been radically transformed. Their desires, values, aspirations—their hearts—have been changed. A new heart will evidence itself in new life. The saved are not just those with a little less sinful heart. They are those with a completely new heart. The new heart abhors sin. Metamorphism is like grace in that it happens to the caterpillar in spite of its ugliness. But, metamorphism doesn’t leave the caterpillar as it found him. The marvel of metamorphism isn’t that the caterpillar acts and looks a little less a caterpillar. It is that he becomes a butterfly. He no longer crawls along the earth. He flies in the sky.

WORLDLINESS = LACK OF FAITH

One may argue whether or not there is any problem with it being so; one may argue that grace covers it so the issue is moot; but what one cannot do, unless he blindly denies reality, is suggest it isn't true. Worldliness. Generally, contemporary American Christians evidence a lifestyle that is little different from the pleasure seeking unbelievers around them. Any difference seems to be one of degree not kind. There has always been the reality that Christians will be tempted by this world. Satan even tempted Jesus with it. The Apostle John warned against loving it. Peter cautions that lusts for it must be rejected. That record is clear. Many, including myself, have so often made whether or not the believer forays into, partakes of, and adopts this world about commitment, dedication, and even the experience of sanctification. It would be hard to argue against those strands of truth. However, more and more, when I watch a believer become mesmerized by, yielding to, and finally partaking of this world, I have come to see it less about commitment and more about faith: Worldliness evidences a lack of faith. Simply put, the believer has yielded to temptation and sought out the world simply because he does not believe God can make him happy, fulfill his needs, and satisfy him. He turns to the world believing that is where he will find the pleasure, happiness, and satisfaction he seeks. Ironically, if asked, that same believer would tell the unbeliever that he will never find in the world that which will fill the hole in his heart, that only Jesus can fill that space, meet that craving. That is the indictment against the worldly believer: He declares that only Jesus can satisfy the soul and then turns to and seeks out the things of this world. He just doesn't believe. He doesn't believe what he has declared, "Only God can fill the God-shaped vacuum of every heart." He doesn't believe that he is complete in Christ, that there is no need to seek further for joy, purpose. He doesn't believe that God has what it takes to meet his deepest need. Lack this faith and there is no foundation for commitment, convictions, or dedication. The thinking world must laugh at the worldly Christian's lack of faith. The "Christian" declares, Jesus will fill the void of your life, and then listens to secular music that expresses and encourages carnal cravings, engages in licentious sexual activity, becomes addicted to worldly pleasures, and on and on. The "Christian" proclaims he has found the answer but continues to seek out what the world offers. Faith in God says, "Hallelujah, I have found Him, whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies the longing by His grace I now am saved." Faith in God equals no need or desire for this world.