Is the Bible valid?

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Romans 1:16-17)

Sometimes we encounter those who really don't believe the truth of the gospel. It could be that we sometimes struggle with it ourselves, questioning the validity of what God has said or promised to us. Those who doubt the truth today might even say it is just kind of 'old-fashioned' and outdated - like it belonged to our parent's generation, not ours. What is worse is that some actually believe they are able to do life on their own, that they don't need this 'God thing' we talk about. Faith isn't 'old-fashioned', outdated, or 'invalid'. It never grows old.

I think some may balk a little at the words found within the pages of our bibles because they see them as 'man's ideas'. In other words, they see them as written by some scholarly men back in the day, but who is to say they are the 'real deal'? They have no idea that God used men, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to record those words. They forget that God wrote the first words on stone, but we lost those a long time ago when they were shattered on the ground at the sight of the false gods people had erected to worship. 

God's word is a powerful thing to those who will accept it, put their trust in what it says, and live according to the principles taught within those pages. If man doubts the validity or value of such truth, they only need to put it into practice to see it stands the test of time and has a value far greater than one might imagine. It has a transformative power unlike any other 'truth' circulated throughout time. If we will listen to its wisdom, embracing it as truth, we will begin to experience that transformation within our lives that is only possible when we allow our hearts to be open to his touch.

Through faith in Christ, we are welcomed into God's family. That faith grows as we embrace not only the person of truth (Christ), but the words of truth (the scriptures). Just sayin!

Personal Scripture

My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone sins, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He always did what was right, so he is able to defend us before God the Father. Jesus is the way our sins are taken away. And he is the way all people can have their sins taken away too. If we obey what God has told us to do, then we are sure that we know him. If we say we know God but do not obey his commands, we are lying. The truth is not in us. But when we obey God’s teaching, his love is truly working in us. This is how we know that we are living in him. (I John 2:1-5)

A long time ago, I had a pastor who told us it was okay to substitute our own names into scripture. For example, I could read this passage as, "My dear Lauretta, I write this letter to you...", making it come alive to me personally. When I began to realize scripture was written for ME, I began to find it both comforting and a little convicting. At times, it opened up doors for my healing and peace. At others, it brought me to my knees in repentance. Either way, scripture did its work IN me because it was written FOR me. It is written for all of us - you included!

Written that I may not sin - when I see it as a personal letter to me, I begin to appreciate how much care God takes to help ME live right. It isn't just the early church that received this letter to live in such a way that they didn't sin, but it was for each of us personally. The message is clear - God wants us to stop accepting sin in our lives as 'normal' or 'expected'. He wants us to forsake the selfishness of sin and settle into the selflessness of living for and with Christ. In turn, he gives us the means by which to do exactly that!

Sin doesn't need to hold us back - it can be taken away and we can find a new purpose in life - obedience to God. We might find it a little intimidating to hear some of these passages put in the personal tense, but if we truly want to be free of our sin, we need a 'personal God' who meets us right where we are. If anyone sins - it is pretty much a 'given' that we ALL fit that bill. We have Jesus to help us with being free of that sin - not just forgiven, but free from it. Too many times we fail to equate forgiveness with freedom. Jesus replaces that sin with his righteousness. We replace the desires to sin by getting truth INTO our lives.

Jesus deals with our sin, but we learn to deal with the temptation to 'sin again' by getting God's truth into us. The scripture doesn't have to be hard for us to understand, especially when we allow it to become 'personal' to us. Just sayin!

Taken in

"Things start out as hopes and end up as habits." (Lillian Hellman) There are a lot of 'habits' we accumulate over the years, some of them better than others. The ones we really want to develop may be a little harder to develop, though. We developed the habit of brushing our teeth regularly - a fairly simple habit, easily adopted, but as a kiddo, we resisted it. Some of us resist the habit of reading our Bible - a fairly simple habit which could easily be adopted, but we resist it because it takes time, some of the stuff in there doesn't make sense, and we have lots of questions about the content we read. It seems to me this is the kind of habit we may actually need most in our lives - the reward being worth the effort it takes.

Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

There is nothing like the written Word of God to open one's eyes to the possibilities all around you. We may not always understand what we are reading, nor understand the reason some of the content is included (like those long geneologies), but every word has importance. All scripture is 'useful', but it must be put to 'use'! How many of us have a spare tire in our vehicle? I daresay we probably all do these days. How many times have you put it to use? If you are like me, it wasn't used in most of my vehicles, but it was there. Did it serve a purpose by being there? Yes, I had assurance I could use it to replace a flat tire if I had one. Just because I didn't use it doesn't mean it had an undesirable or meaningless purpose.

All scripture has a purpose - some we will understand right off, while others we will see in time. If we want to grow strong in our spiritual lives, we begin by taking in what God has provided. If we want to grow strong in our earthly relationships, we allow the Word of God to bring us together on common ground, helping us to grow stronger together. Truth is revealed, rebellion is exposed, and things we have no idea why we are doing them can be overcome. We don't just have a spare tire in the car and feel secure when we get a flat tire. We take it out of the tire well, undo the lug nuts of the flat one, replacing it with the spare. We don't just let the Word of God sit on a shelf - we take it off the shelf, dust it off, and open it up. Then we read it! As we take in the Word, we are taken in by it. Watch out - a habit is about to be formed! Just sayin!

A little truth goes a long way

There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Useful things are seldom discarded - we use them time and time again. If we begin to view scripture as something we can 'discard' or 'disengage from' in our daily lives, we are in danger of losing one of the most secure and trustworthy things that can 'sculpt' our lives. I have mentioned in other posts that scripture is to be taken in its entirety - not weeding out some truths and latching onto others. All scripture was 'hand-prepared' by God himself - taking special note of what we'd need to hear in order to understand his love, grace, and peace. We cannot leave parts out and expect to comprehend his greatness - it just isn't possible. I will grant you, there are parts of scripture that are a little 'dry' - but even the 'dry' parts lend background to the messages we embrace from scripture.

Scripture reveals truth. When in doubt, or just needing to 'fact check' something you are thinking, there is no greater resource than the Word of God. Ponder a thought long enough and you will likely begin to think it truth - even when it is not! Take your 'ponderings' to God's Word and you will begin to see if there is a difference between the way God sees the matter and how you are seeing it at that moment. Probably more concerning to us is this issue of scripture exposing places in our lives where we are just being rebellious. It exposes wrong thought patterns as much as it exposes wrong behaviors. Many times we are quite happy to continue in our rebellion, so we avoid any scripture exposure in order to avoid exposure of our rebellion! How foolish of us to think we can escape God's Word - it has a way of burrowing into the hardest of hearts, intervening in wrong thought processes, and getting all 'up in our business' when we least expect it!

It is a warming thought to consider the 'restorative' power of scripture - helping us to recover from our mistakes. A whole lot of self-help books have been written over the years, but nothing beats a good intake of the Word of God to show us where our 'self' has the greatest need for 'help'. God isn't put off by our mistakes and he doesn't want us to dwell in the muddle we have made because of them. If we were to be honest, we don't want to dwell there, either! Scripture has a way of opening our hearts, freeing our minds, and creating peace once again. How? It drives us to confession - to expose our wrong-doing and wrong-thinking - opening us up to a new way of doing and thinking. We need this more than we may first admit - our mistakes taking us down roads of self-doubt, worry, and crazy imaginations that we cannot undo ourselves.

So, the next time you are considering if scripture is 'worth' taking the time to explore, consider these questions: 1) Have I been repeating my mistakes over and over again? 2) Am I sure what I have bought into in my thought life is really truth? 3) Are my anxieties because of my own thinking and doing? If you can answer yes to any of these, then consider this - truth can 'un-muddle' the mess we make of life quicker than anything we can do on our own. A little truth may just be what is needed to settle your thought life, renew your aching and anxious heart, and set you on course again, free of your past mistakes. Just sayin!

Pray the Word

“The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.  It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.” (Isaiah 55:10-13 NLT)

Some of the promises in Isaiah are really rich in character, aren't they? The imagery presented for us here about God's Word is dynamic. As often he does, God uses a word picture to help us understand the impact of the Word of God in our lives. As rain comes down, it has an immediate impact on the plants which take in the refreshing of the downpour, right? Yet, there is a lasting effect to rain we might not have considered - it fills the wells, cisterns, and dry beds. It has a "reserve" effect, not just an immediate one. The significance of what seems to be "gone" in such a short while is lost to us because we don't see the inward effect of the rain! We often don't see the inward affect of the Word of God until our character is challenged and our choices have that moment where they are "defined" by what comes next!

Everywhere God sends his Word, it has an effect - it NEVER returns void! That is indeed something we need to latch onto in our prayer time, my friends - because if God's Word never returns void, then we need to start praying his Word! I often find myself recounting scripture as our pray, reminding God that his Word declares a certain promise. Why? I am laying foundation to my prayers. His Word ALWAYS produces fruit. As with any product of nature that bears fruit, there is a period of time between the "promise" of fruit and the "enjoyment" of fruit, isn't there? We can watch it develop, almost tasting the luxurious flavor of that fruit, but until it reaches the place of full development, that fruit isn't ready. In fact, it will disappoint when it is plucked too early! God's Word may not have the full effect the first time it is taken in, but trust me on this one, it has a "reserve effect" much greater than we might ever imagine!

In praying God's Word, we aren't coaxing God to act or respond a certain way. We are just recounting the wonderful promises he has made to us about things that matter in our lives. For example, when a parent sees their child making unwise choices in life, the parent may remind God that they have raised them in the truth and they are counting on God to return that child to the truth. They are resting on the scripture that says if we direct our child on the right path, when they are older, they will not leave it (Proverbs 22:6). It isn't magic to pray scripture. We are just counting on God's Word to NEVER return void - something he encourages us to do as we pray.

As we consider our passage today, I know I have often reminded God of the promise of his restorative power. Thorny ground yielding the might cypress tree speaks of a re-created "landscape" in our lives. There are many times when I look at the nettles and thorns in my own life and have to ask God if he can possibly bring anything good from such a barren and dry place. He inevitably reminds me of this scripture. Why?  He is reminding me I can stand on the "reserve" of his Word - the ground may be dry right now, but there is something deep within the well that will nourish and refresh those dry places! We may not realize the power of the Word in prayer until we actually begin to use it more and more. I would encourage us to make it a part of our prayer this year.  We could just be surprised to realize such depth of hope, peace, assurance, and refreshment dwells within each of us! Just sayin!

The B....I...B...L...E, its the book for me!

All of Scripture is God-breathed; in its inspired voice, we hear useful teaching, rebuke, correction, instruction, and training for a life that is right so that God’s people may be up to the task ahead and have all they need to accomplish every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 VOICE)

Ever wonder why we were given scripture? It was because we needed to be "up to the task" of accomplishing every (not just some) good work. It so amazing to consider just how the words penned within the pages of our Bible actually came to be. Sixty six books, written by at least 40 authors, over 1600 years in the writing, all under the authority of the Holy Spirit and anointed by God for the task of recording these teachings we have before us today. It is the one book which has been translated into more than 1200 languages and is given away more often than any other book we could receive. As our text points out today, ALL of scripture is God-breathed, but we are under a warning not to add to it, nor are we to take away from it. This makes it pretty clear to me that God wants it to remain "in tact", but that he also wants us to have ALL that is shared within these 66 books. We might have our "favorite" passages or books within the pages of our Bible, but ALL of it has been given for our growth.

Useful teaching - when we limit our intake of the entirety of the scripture, we limit the "usefulness" of this text to help us in our growth. Even the hard to understand stuff, when studied even a little bit with the help of a scholarly teacher can help us see things as God sees them and trust him in ways we may not have really fully considered before. When I first read through the outline of how the Tabernacle of Moses was written, with all those instructions on the size, shape, content, and appearance of the various walls, altar, washbasin, etc., I was kind of thinking this was a little dry content for me. When I actually took time to consider why God required the use of the colors he did in weaving the garments of the priest or the walls of the Tabernacle, I see blue, purple and scarlet. Why those colors? Purple had long been associated with the royal garments of the King. Scarlet has long been associated with the sacrifice of Christ - blood shed for our sins. Blue may have represented the uniqueness of his grace, or the majesty of his dwelling in the heavenlies - we don't really know, but blue was very hard to make in those days as indigo was expensive and rare. My point is that even the most difficult things to "understand" can have a way of pointing us toward grace, God's goodness, the impact it can have on our character, and how much God loves each of us if we let it instruct us - making it useful in every measure in our lives.

Rebuke and correction we may be a little less than thrilled to receive from scripture, but the fact of the matter is that we ALL need both regardless of our station in life. We are never too old to learn, nor are we too set in our ways to change. Where grace abounds, so does change. Where grace has an impact, a life is altered for the good. This is the purpose for scripture acting as a tool of rebuke or an instrument of correction. It isn't to smack us over the head with all the ways we aren't measuring up - it is to help us create the foundation within our lives by which we may see the structure of our lives altered for the good.

ALL of scripture is given for our "training" - to help us move from being marginally "good" at living righteously, to being awesomely "fantastic" at it! There is no end to our transformation, though. If you were thinking you'd get to the last chapter of Revelation and suddenly be a totally different person, you were probably right. You did transform as you made your way through those pages, but...that transformation isn't over because you will do so again and again as you read and reread all those chapters once again in your walk with Christ! We are indeed a "work in process" - there is no doubt about that. The tools by which the work is accomplished are housed within the pages of this text we call the Bible. As much as we may try to remove a flat-head screw with a bottle cap, the cap is not the right tool to accomplish the task. God has given us the right tools - but we have to allow their use if we are to be transformed as we so desperately require.  Just sayin!

Get on and keep on!

"Keep on" - two words with much meaning.  To "keep on" one must have begun the journey. There must have been a clear starting point - a launching pad of sorts from which one begins to take the steps in some particular venture.  For believers, this is the moment they say "yes" to Jesus.  For non-believers, this might be the moment they begin to feel the "niggling" of need in their life which causes they to be curious to find what is missing in their lives.  Either way, there is this starting point.  To "keep on" also implies there is a tendency in us to be slowed down, or even stopped completely along this journey.  The words are instruction, but they are also encouragement.  There are times when "keep on" will take on the meaning of a prod to get us into movement again, while at others they are simply words to encourage us to not give up.  As we consider this instruction today, let us not forget the tendency we have to become discouraged or distracted - either of these traits can keep us from "keeping on" in our pursuit of all that is God's best for our lives.

Keep on being faithful to what you were taught and to what you believed. After all, you know who taught you these things. Since childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures that are able to make you wise enough to have faith in Christ Jesus and be saved. Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 CEV)

Our instruction this morning begins with both words of encouragement and instruction: "Keep on being faithful to what you were taught and to what you believed".  I think Paul might have given Timothy a little insight here into the hearts of many of us - for we all have moments when God's teaching - those things we have learned already - becomes a little too "familiar" to us.  Any teaching we view as "familiar" can actually become something we "gloss over" and don't pay as close attention to.  For example, if we know the speed limit is 55 mph on a certain strip of highway, but we have allowed the car's speed to edge upwards to 65 mph and we haven't been caught and fined for the infraction, we will likely learn to think of the speed limit signs as just a suggestion or "nice concept".  If we do this with the teachings of God in our lives, we run into some dangerous areas of compromise which will open us up to even greater areas of compromise.  This is why we are encouraged to "keep on" with attentive consideration to the teachings we have already received (and maybe mastered) in our lives.  We cannot let them slip away or edge toward compromise just because we aren't attentive to them.

The scriptures are our source of so much instruction, but as we all realize, instruction is nothing without some form of "practice".  It becomes "instrumental" in our lives only when we put it into practice. That which is practiced does eventually become habit, but remember this - habit can become simply habit (repetitive action without any real challenge).  A perfect example of this is when a believer blindly just gets up in the morning, grabs his Bible, then turns to the next page in his reading plan, and reads for the sake of checking off the daily reading.  One might think he is doing a good job because  he has "taken in" scripture that day, but trust me on this one, if all we do is read to check the box, we don't get what we were supposed to from it - the habit has become a habit.  Instruction has to be coupled with practice - we have to ask God where that truth needs to be applied today - who needs our forgiveness; what words are we speaking that don't bring God glory; where should we spend our time so it has the greatest impact today?  When we begin to actually approach our time in the Word with an open and teachable heart, it is different than just pursuing a reading plan.

So many of us have a tendency to renew our commitment to read through the Bible at the beginning of the year.  We make plans to undertake this cycle of reading, following some preset plan or devotional.  This is all good, but remember this - no "cycle" actually produces good results unless that "cycle" is one which requires us to "exercise"!  As Paul points out, the scriptures are useful for teaching.  This means when we need information on decisions we are trying to make - we go there to learn what to do.  There are times when scripture just doesn't lay it all out for us, though.  There weren't retirement plans and stock investments in biblical times, but there were farmers and ranchers who took on the task of laying up stores in the storehouse, so we can see the principles of wise stewardship of what God has given us. When we begin to seek the wisdom of scriptures in helping us to direct our use of finances, we find many examples.  We are using the scriptures to guide our actions.  This is good! 

We also see where scripture does the most painful work of correcting behaviors or attitudes which are just plainly not right.  When we approach scripture with the desire to come away different than we were when we first explored it, we find we get a little nudge to correct some things in our lives which just don't line up the way they should.  This is also good!  We need correction - it keeps us honest and it also keeps us humble!  Both are things we need to embrace - an honest estimate of our actions and the humility to admit when they aren't "right on".  If we are to "keep on", we certainly want to be "right on" in those actions!  So, when we approach the scriptures open to the possibilities of what we might learn from them, we start the journey - when we actually use them to help us get or remain "right on" in our actions, we are using them to "keep on".  Someone once told me the journey wouldn't be all I expected - since most of the time we think this Christian experience is going to be a bed of rose petals.  I have learned there are a whole lot of "stickers" on those roses!  Some of them will actually "prick" a little as I enjoy the roses God sets out for me.  Just sayin!

Don't leave anything out!

There are very few of us who set out in the morning with the express purpose of making wrong choices, acting poorly, or just plain being "out of sync" with Jesus.  In fact, most of us would probably recount how we attempt to make a "fresh start" everyday - regardless of how many times we have messed up before.  When we "belong to Christ", there is something of a desire we don't fully understand, but it lives deep within us, purposing within us to help us "do right".  This is simply because Christ indwells us and is empowering us to make better choices.  As I have often referenced before, we still have this thing called "free will" which often give us a little more "interference" in our lives when it comes to making choices, though.  This free will of ours presents one way of seeing things, while the Spirit of God within sets out a totally different view.  This war within is what gives us most of our angst in life, isn't it?  Don't get me wrong, but I think we almost count on there being no "war" between our will and God's Spirit, don't we?  It is like we somehow think all things within us should just "line up" and we shouldn't have to exert any effort toward obedience.  Silly us! When did we develop this sense of entitlement which actually believes God's people won't experience struggles whether they be within our own spirit, or because of others around us who make right choices harder?   

Anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus and wants to live right will have trouble from others. But evil people who pretend to be what they are not will become worse than ever, as they fool others and are fooled themselves. Keep on being faithful to what you were taught and to what you believed. After all, you know who taught you these things. Since childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures that are able to make you wise enough to have faith in Christ Jesus and be saved. Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds. (2 Timothy 3:12-17 CEV)

Scripture is quite clear on the matter - anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus and WANTS to live right will have troubles from others.  So, the struggle within is not going to be the only struggle we face in this walk - we are also going to face opposition of sorts from those who don't quite understand our commitment to Jesus.  Evil lives in this earth - no doubt about it. We cannot escape that reality.  If we lived in a bubble on the back side of a wilderness area somewhere, we'd still be affected by the evil around us.  Think about it - even the decision to live in a bubble in a remotely isolated place was in response to trying to "escape evil"!  So, we need to figure out how it is we "deal" with the evil around us, those trying to fool us with their trickery and mischief, and the constant struggle of the will within as it is challenged to live by what the Spirit prompts.

For this, we need to point ourselves clearly to the scriptures.  We often don't think about the Word of God as our greatest defense, but it is.  We are taught a great deal of it, but how much of it have we applied to our lives.  The truth exists, but it must be applied in order to affect our lives.  They are "able to make us wise enough to have faith in Christ Jesus and be saved", but they are also "wise enough" to keep us from being duped by the foolish lies of our own will, or those of the world around us.  

First and foremost, we must accept the scriptures as truth.  Most of us would say we do this, but I wonder if we really do.  If we "discount" some of the passages we read as not applicable to our lives today - belonging to another generation or time - then we really aren't accepting the full power and potential of the Word of God.  I know the Old Testament means of worship, complete with the blood sacrifices and offerings ranging from grain to livestock, isn't the means by which we approach God today.  Yet, they teach us something quite significant about HOW God works.  For example, these passages teach us about the need of a blood sacrifice (perfectly offered by Jesus), the cost of worship (bringing our best, not our outcasts), and the power of community (we belong together in worship).  So, to discount them as "not applicable" and therefore not worthy of our study is to shut ourselves off to some pretty special lessons God wants us to understand.

Second, we must accept scripture as a means of teaching us not only "how" to live, but "who" to live for, "where" we should find our hope in times of trouble, and "when" it is we are to push forward or pull back.  Scripture is instructional - it offers us more than just stories about great people, doing great things.  Instruction is really the ability of something to be authoritative in our lives and give us the direction by which we are to live.  When we begin to see scripture as an "authority" in our lives, we begin to apprehend the importance of what is contained within the pages.  

Third, we must accept the fact of needing help in making right choices.  Most of us want to live pretty independent lives - this almost goes without saying.  When we choose to live independently, we often become so rigid in our choices we exclude any other option than that which we conclude to be true and right for us.   The problem with this type of "choice making" is we don't always "conclude" correctly.  When we exclude the wisdom of the full scripture, that of others who have walked this walk a little longer than us, or the counsel of a teacher skilled in rightly dividing the scripture, we set ourselves up for failure.  We need correction on occasion - this goes without saying - but we won't be open to or even seek correction when we are too "bent" on making all our own choices in life.  We might not have escaped to the backside of the wilderness secured tightly in a bubble, but when we choose to live independent of the counsel of scripture, we are excluding one of the best defenses we have against the evil within and without!

We cannot live exclusionary lives - we need to incorporate all of the scripture into our learning.  We also cannot live reclusive lives - we need the training of others to assist us to see the various viewpoints we might just be missing when we consider the wisdom of the scriptures.  I think this is why God places us within community - to learn together.  Most of us don't see the things others see in us - we are so busy looking outward we forget about what dwells within.  Sometimes we need the skillful and observant eyes of another, wisely bringing scripture to light within us to show us our true colors.  Just sayin!

Fairing well because of the rules

Can you really say you always play by the rules?  Or that you actually "enjoy" the rules established by which you are asked to live your life?  Truth be told, most of us resist the rules on occasion, or think they are not really pertinent to our lives, so we don't embrace them as we should.  I don't own a handgun, so all laws (rules) applying to firearms don't really apply to me, do they? Yet, I could go out today and acquire one - making those rules ever so important for me to understand.  I don't have to become acquainted with the rules until I need to use them within my life - convenient, huh?  Most of us deal with the rules in life in this manner - if there is not a clear-cut reason for them right now in the "here and now", then they are good to have, but we don't go out of our way to learn them.  Now, in the sense of handgun laws, this may not make much difference today, but if someone were to change the rules, making it possible for anyone to own a handgun without any type of registration of that weapon, would that make a difference to us?  Probably - because now there would be no "regulation" over the weapons sold.  The rules somehow make a difference - even when we are not fully aware of them, don't they? Even when these rules are God's rules, we don't need to know them fully to understand they still apply to us!

I enjoy following your rules as much as others enjoy great riches. (Psalm 119:14 MSG)

Simply put, a rule is something which is in place to govern our actions - it is to be the observed practice in the lives of those under that rule.  Here in my area, the speed limit on the freeways is predominantly 65 miles per hour. There are a few stretches more toward the inner sector of the city which are 55 miles per hour, but for the most part they remain at 65.  Now, how many folks actually slow down when they hit those slower sectors?  Not many!  It is as though the "rule" is a suggestion, not a requirement - UNTIL you see the speed trap with the radar gun ahead!  Then watch the brake lights come on! What is the difference?  As long as no one enforces the rules, we don't think they really matter to us!  Do you know why speed limits are set the way they are?  It is usually because of the flow of traffic in and out of the lanes of that busy part of the freeway - slowing down traffic makes it easier for merging traffic to enter the freeway, but also it makes it safer!

So, we have ascertained that rules are to govern our actions, keep us safe, and may not immediately appear to affect us on the surface, but if not observed, can place both us and those around us in danger.  Perhaps this will give us a different outlook on the rules God establishes for our lives and records for us in scripture.  Maybe we don't know all the reasoning behind those rules, but we can be sure they are there for the reasons we have stated above!  We don't need to know the reason behind each and every "rule", but we should embrace them all with equal enthusiasm because they are both for our protection and our well-being.

Protection is one thing - well-being is another.  Protection is the preservation from harm or injury.  Well-being is what we might call our "state of affairs". As long as we can say our "well-being" is good, we are describing a state of life in which there is perhaps health, good fortune, prosperity, or what some might call "fairing well".  God's "rules" or "commands" are there for both! There is nothing onerous about his "rules" when we begin to think of them this way.  They are there to protect us from harm or injury - this is indeed a desirable state, is it not?  They are there to bring us into places of "fairing well", no matter what the challenges are we might face.  This is indeed a much better state than we could produce on our own, isn't it?

No wonder our psalmist says he follows God's rules like some others might pursue the riches of this world!  He has come to realize there is much more value in living according to the standards God lays out for his life than there is in pursuing the things which don't last.  If we embrace ALL the rules, even those we don't know or think apply to us at this moment, we will indeed "fair well" in this life.  Just sayin!F

Don't throw out the old for the new

All of scripture is written to some particular "audience".  Although our passage today was originally written for the people of Israel, the content of what is laid out quite clearly applies to all believers today.  We have an obligation to not discount the entirety of the Old Testament just because we have the New. We also have to be aware of the principles taught - for they are meant as "safety guides" for our lives as much as they are meant to point us toward the heart and mind of God.  Moses has just given the people the outline of the Ten Commandments - the basis of what it is we use to often evaluate if we are "keeping" God's intention for our lives in an honorable manner.  For example, when Moses taught there should be no other god before God, he was probably not aware of the tremendous struggle which was just ahead for the people - with all manner of worship ahead of them as they entered the Promised Land - but only one manner of worship would connect them to the heart of God.  There are times when we are equally unaware of the dangers which lie right in our path - but if we will remain consistently faithful to the truths we are given, we should know safety as we travel these paths.

The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 MSG)

Several things begin to unfold as Moses speaks these words - God has a tremendous desire for us to turn to him with our whole hearts, not out of obligation, but out of love; the conscious decisions which must be made in choosing to turn our eyes consistently toward God, not being swayed by the other things which can cloud our sight; and the tremendous amount of focus it takes to maintain focus!  That said, let's dig into a few things outlined for us in this passage:

1. One God - not many.  This must be established first and foremost in our hearts and minds if we are to grow in Christ, for all of our battles (emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually) are really based on this idea of who will be "God" or "god" in our lives.  There are lots of "gods" we could bow down before - like money, career, collectibles, people, etc.  There is but one God we are called to bow down before - God, the Lord of heaven and earth, the creator of all things, and the one who commands the course of all things which are and will be.  Any time we allow something or someone other than God to be in the position of "god" in our lives, we will be setting ourselves up to falter and ultimately know failure.  The only time we know safety from external and internal forces is when the right "God" is in control!

2. Love requires three elements: Heart, Soul, and Strength.  Heart is often referred to in scripture as the mind, will, and emotions.  In other words, the seat of what makes us uniquely who we are and helps to determine what it is we believe, do, and feel.  There is connection with the one true God on this level - for we are inherently "feeling" creatures, but we don't live by what we "feel" and we are thinking creatures, but we don't live by what we can understand or imagine.  We need faith and this requires will.  Will helps us move beyond our "maybe this could be true" in to the place of "I know God isn't going to lie to me, so I will trust this to be true".  To this we see love involving the soul.  The soul is what sets man apart from animal and all other forms of life.  The soul is the part of man which lives on eternally - even after decay and age has taken its toll on the body.  In reminding us that love involves the soul, we are reminded that love is eternal - not momentary, not time limited, but everlasting and abiding.  Strength is part and parcel with heart and soul - for both would falter if there was no strength behind the commitment to love.

3.  The commandments are not just to be recited, memorized, and written in stone - they are to be "written" upon the heart.  This seems a little garish to some, but it is not literal.  People weren't to walk around with scripture tattoos on their foreheads and hands, but they were to allow scripture to affect all aspects of their being - mind, will, emotions, hands, feet, etc.  I think God is best honored when he sees us connecting scripture in our lives with the actions we take.  For example, when he speaks to us to keep him first, we remind ourselves our emotions cannot continue to guide our every action.  Sometimes this means we literally have to remind our emotions what scripture says:  "God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind!"  Then we need to remind ourselves over and over again to put the fear behind us, take the steps we are asked to take, and trust that we will have the wisdom to respond as we should and the power to live in ways which seem contrary to the present set of circumstances.  

4.  Scripture isn't for personal use alone - it is to be the topic of discussion and the consistent "interloper" in our decision-making processes.  I used the word "interloper" because we often don't think to turn to scripture for our "normal" activities and decisions of the day.  Some of these are just by rote - such as brushing our teeth and washing the dishes.  Trust me on this - it is not God's will for us to have rotten teeth or to have cockroaches in the kitchen because the sink is filled with dirty dishes!  We don't need scripture to tell us some of this stuff, but when we are considering if we should marry the one we are currently in relationship with, this is a whole different matter.  We need to see what scripture defines as the characters or qualities of a spouse who honors God.  We also need to realize where it is we have strengths and this is often revealed in what we learn in scripture.  We want complimentary strengths in our mate - for a household made up of two people with exactly the same strengths has no opportunity to have the counter-action of another with the opposite strengths to bring balance.

5.  Using scripture at transition points in our lives is quite important - this may be the inference of the doorways, roadways, and gates.  These are all transition points - we come and go by these passages.  In other words, all our comings and goings are to align with scripture - it is to guide us in our decision making and to keep us on the straight and narrow.  Transition points are often the places where we get "hung up" the easiest because they are places and points where we have to make decisions which may not be comfortable for us or may be "new".  When we face these transitions, we need the solid foundation of what has already been outlined for us as principles by which we can make decisions as to the actions we should take - principles found in scripture.

So, as we begin to see Moses' instruction those many years ago as applying to our lives today, we might be challenged a little in the areas of focus, trust, and obedience.  Maybe we are challenged in the area of getting to really know scripture for ourselves and not being reliant upon another to continually unveil the hidden secrets for us.  Or perhaps we are just challenged to keep our focus off things which really don't matter and remaining attentive to the things which do.  Either way, we are doing exactly what God intended when he directed Moses to pen these words!  Just sayin! 

About or From - You Choose

There is a vast difference between learning "about" something or someone and learning "from" that object or person.  When we learn "about" someone, we are learning things that are closely associated with that individual, but we are not necessarily learning what makes that person "tick".  When we get to learn "from" them, we get to know the "original" and nothing is quite the same as getting to know the "original".  Anything less just doesn't quite reach the same level of experience.  The thing which makes "about" and "from" very distinct as it comes to our relationship with Christ is the danger of never drawing close enough to recognize the real thing when we see it.  As long as we are just learning "about" Christ, we get familiar with some of the nuances of his character, but we don't sense the action of that character within us. When we are learning "from" Christ, it is because we have leaned into him, heard the beat of his heart, and drawn strength from that nearness.  "About" doesn't help us spot the imitation when it might come - "from" helps us differentiate more accurately between what is "genuine" and what is the cleverly designed "imitation".

Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.  (Hebrews 13:9 MSG)

I think we need to recognize the potential of merely knowing "about" him - it opens us up to being lured away by the latest speculation about him.  We have to live "in" grace - not just appreciate that grace "exists".  We have to live "in" Christ - not just appreciate him as a good man, a great teacher, or as a means for us to get into heaven.  We need a close, intimate relationship "with" Jesus in order to learn "from" Jesus.  I have good friends and then I have my best friend.  What she knows about me that some of the others don't might not seem significant at first, but the closeness we have developed allows her to "tune into" my moods, know when I need to talk, and then know when we just need to be quiet together while we enjoy just being with each other.  We have learned "from" each other - not just "about" each other.  We have developed a level of relational "intimacy" which allows us to understand more than the superficial stuff about each other.

I like the imagery of this passage - "Products named after Christ don't seem to do much for those who by them."  Chew on that one a little - I think it might just speak to each of us about some of the "products named after Christ" we might have bought into over the years.  For example, have any of us been duped into believing something from scripture just because someone else told us it was in scripture?  Perhaps we think the adage "God helps those who help themselves" is from scripture - a direct quote of sorts.  Have you ever been told this by a well-meaning brother or sister in the Lord?  Well, the adage is attributable to Ben Franklin, or even apparent in Aesop's Fables - not God!  Does that one shock you?  Then look it up!  We find ourselves buying into many "products named after Christ" without really testing them to see if they are indeed the "real deal".  In fact, the Bereans were given kudos for taking what they were taught, then going home, studying them over and over again against scripture to see if indeed the teachings were in alignment with scripture - something which might just helps us not buy-into products "about" Christ and draw us nearer to learning "from" him!

If we can begin to see the value of daily drawing close to Jesus, allowing his Word to penetrate our lives, even if we don't "get" all we read each time we read it, we will begin to develop the protections we need which will keep us from buying into "products named after Christ".  In time, the more we expose ourselves to truth, the more truth begins to penetrate the recesses of our minds and thoughts.  When we hear or see something which might seem to appeal to our senses, we often will also be met with the "contrary" warning of that thing just not being exactly right.  Remember, all falsehood bears some semblance of truth, or we'd never be drawn into believing the falsehood.  We learn fully of God's grace in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ.  We learn of the actions of grace in his life actions - those things he modeled on our behalf.  We learn the generosity of grace when we begin to see the sacrifice grace made on our behalf in the person of Christ.  We learn "from" Christ - not just about him - building "safety" into our lives as a result.

In short - to keep from being lured into stuff which merely proclaims to be a product which carries the name of Christianity, we have to learn from the one who Christianity is all about!  Jesus!  Just sayin!