Stem Cell Transplant

God, create a pure heart in me, and make my spirit strong again. Don’t push me away or take your Holy Spirit from me. Your help made me so happy. Give me that joy again. Make my spirit strong and ready to obey you. I will teach the guilty how you want them to live, and the sinners will come back to you. (Psalm 51:10-13 ERV)

Purity of heart is not something we accomplish on our own - we definitely need God's help with this one! In fact, it is impossible for the "impure" to ever reproduce "pure". The strength of spirit it took to compromise, or downright follow a path of impurity in the first place is what should make us realize we don't "find purity" on our own. We need (and we want) God to make our spirit strong again - but in the right direction!

It is one thing to be strong - it is another thing to exhibit the strength that is initiated and sustained by God himself. I can be a very strong-willed individual, but does that strength of will always produce the right outcomes in my life? Absolutely not! In fact, to be totally honest here, whenever my strength of will is in control, I kind of follow a course not so honoring to God!

Where God is given will, he produces that readiness to obey. In other words, when we eventually make a determined choice to stop demanding our own way, God begins to reproduce within us his strength of character that redefines our choices. Most of the time, this is exactly what keeps us in the compromising circle anyway - choices that need a little redefinition! His character reproduced within us isn't going to just come alongside impure character within us - it replaces it!

Think of God's grace as "stem cells" that have the ability to reproduce "good" and "vital" cells of solid character within. They are the "cells" that will overcome the "bad cells" of our own character that need to be gone anyway! We might "want to" change our character - but we lack the right "cellular materials" I would like to call the "purity cells". The character of God is exactly that - so he takes his "purity cells" and transplants them through "grace moments". 

The thing that makes the difference when that "transplant" occurs is our openness to receiving the new "cells" of his character. If we are really desirous to have a change of character, we usually don't "reject" that new growth - but we embrace it. Yes, there will be a conflict because nothing within us dies easily when it comes to our sin nature, but it is possible the more we focus on doing the right stuff that allows those "purity cells" to take hold! Just sayin!

Do we imitate or emulate?

So imitate God. Follow Him like adored children,  and live in love as the Anointed One loved you—so much that He gave Himself as a fragrant sacrifice, pleasing God.  (Ephesians 5:1-2 VOICE)

Have you ever observed a small child imitating his or her parent?  The parent crosses their legs and the child does the same.  The parent takes their cup of juice in a coffee mug and the child wants his the same way.  The father is pounding nails with a hammer and the little boy wants a scrap piece of wood, a handful of nails, and a hammer to do the same.  For some reason, children just naturally emulate the actions of their parents.  Notice that I used the word "emulate" there - they don't just imitate - they want to do it as well, not just "close enough".  I don't think anything is much different for a child of God - we want to live this life of grace and love - not just "okay", but with excellence and pretty closely emulating what we have observed in the life of Christ.

One who imitates is merely doing the same thing as the other person is doing. In drama class we had to do this exercise called "mirroring".  We'd face each other, then work to "mirror" the exact movements, expressions, and posture of the other person. The more we practiced this, the better we became at it, but we still weren't doing anything that the other person was doing. Imitating means we "copy" that which we see or have experienced. The child sees the parent pray at meal each time they sit down and it just becomes natural that they will bow their heads and hold out their hands to pray at mealtime. They "copy" the behavior they see the most.

That being said, we all know the risks of someone imitating (copying) the behavior they see that might not quite be the best, or even a little bit "risky" in nature.  Parents everywhere used to recite an expression to their children's objection to not being allowed to do something - you probably heard it at your home, as well.  The child would say their friend's parents were letting them do a certain activity or wear a certain style of clothing and our parents would respond back to our plea with what expression?  "Just because John jumps off a bridge, are you going to do it?"  Well, wearing a halter top or going to the beach with boys wasn't exactly jumping off a bridge - but it came close to challenging some of the moral bridges I found myself faced with!

Emulation is the process of measuring up to something we see or admire. In the original form of this word (Latin), it also carried something a little bit "wrong" in the meaning.  You see, those who "emulated" the other person were actually envious of the other person - they were wanting to outdo them!  Imitation is just producing a mirror-image or copy of what is modeled - emulation carries the idea of not only meeting the performance of the one we are modeling, but working hard to exceed it!  I don't know if any of us will ever perfectly model the love and grace of God, but I am pretty confident none of us will ever outdo his love or his grace!  So, what word do we use - imitate or emulate?  

Maybe the idea of following is a key to the answer we seek here.  Those who follow like "adored children" are probably pretty close to exhibiting the behavior traits God expects of each of us. As little children seek to learn how their parents move and act, God is telling us to do the same - come as little children, adoringly following every move he makes, and allowing what is patterned to become the way we begin to act ourselves.  It isn't so much that we just mirror the behavior, but that we begin to find ourselves acting as he does because it becomes second nature to us.  Just sayin!

You faking it?

Have you ever wondered why it is that some people just get "found out" when they do something wrong and others seem to be very clever at concealing their mistakes, often avoiding any type of discovery?  I think we all have at one time or another simply because we wonder how we cannot get away with the same stuff!  We may not come out and admit it, but we definitely are thinking it!  Get caught holding a smoking gun and it is hard to deny you fired the shot.  When it all comes to said and done, all sin is sin and will eventually be "uncovered" - the timing may be different for some, but it all comes out in the wash.  

The sins of some people are blatant and march them right into court. The sins of others don’t show up until much later. The same with good deeds. Some you see right off, but none are hidden forever.  (I Timothy 5:24-25 MSG)

We hear the argument all the time about individuals thinking they are not "evil" or "sinners" - as a matter of fact, they see themselves as "good" because they don't do "bad" stuff.  They pay their taxes, look out for the poor, and even take care of widows.  They don't drink, chew, or run with those who do.  They have never murdered anyone, nor have they been unfaithful to their spouse.  So, how could they be considered "sinners"?  They equate the "good" they do with the absence of a sin nature.  That which is part of our nature cannot be "undone" just by doing "good stuff".  Jesus elevated this idea to the forefront of thought when he shared stuff like:

If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.  (Luke 6:29 NIV)

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  (Matthew 5:27-28 NIV)

In essence, what he was saying was that our good or bad deeds go beyond the actual deed - they stem from a source much deeper - the heart.  Man has been born with a heart easily deceived - if not by external forces, at least by his own imagination!  The truth is what sets us free; imaginations hold us captive until they are finally submitted to the inspection and authority of Christ.

To really get at the heart of the matter, we have to allow the "heart" to become what matters.  Mind, will, and emotions - rational thought, perceptions, reasoning - all must be inspected, aligned, and submitted.  Until this occurs, we will continue to be deceived into thinking some of the stuff we don't "think" is really based upon a sin nature is just part of being human and not able to be controlled.  We "excuse" our nature - in turn, we excuse our sin.  Jesus had a challenge for the Pharisees one day - it was that of having the first one who had no sin of his own throw the first stone at the woman caught in adultery.  If you recall the story, none were left to cast a single stone!

Some sins are more blatant - that is what Jesus was showing us.  Some are "easily surfaced" and get us noticed for our short-comings almost immediately.  These are probably easier for us to deal with because they are "open" for others to see.  Those which are buried a little deeper are often the ones we struggle with for what seems like a lifetime.  In some religious circles, they refer to these as our "secret sins" - those we hope we are keeping under raps pretty well.  Eventually they will be revealed, so even the most cleverly disguised sin is never going to remain secret.  We don't take our secrets to the grave, because even the grave has a way of revealing them at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

No one is without sin (Romans 3:23).  Likewise, no one is without a means of having their sinful nature replaced with a new one in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).  There is an "exchange" which must occur - our "best goodness" must be exchanged for the "true goodness" which only comes when there has been an exchange of our "goodness" for the "grace" of God.  One means of redemption exists - the blood of Jesus.  One "exchange" is required - our nature for his.  Only then will the heart be affected.  Sin has a deeper root than what we see on the surface in our lives.  To trust in what we allow to come to the surface as the means by which we believe we will be declared "worthy" or "good enough" is simply risking exposure as a fake!  Just sayin!

Getting it all out on the table

None of us relishes the idea of being disciplined, do we?  In fact, we'd probably rather avoid it at all cost, especially when we are feeling a little guilt load because of what we have done which really deserves the discipline. When it is hardest is when we don't feel we need the discipline - those are the times we probably resist it the most.  It is during these moments that we begin to feel sorry for ourselves - thinking we don't deserve what we are experiencing - all the while forgetting that discipline is not judgment. Discipline is training which is aimed at improving us - not judging us.  Too many of us equate discipline with judgment - like when we stole cookies from the cookie jar, got caught, and then ended up paying the price by being restricted from watching TV or the like.  We got caught - a price had to be paid for our disobedience - and we get to feeling sorry for ourselves, not because we disobeyed, but more likely because we got caught!  Maybe it is time we change our perspective on discipline away from being a form of judgment for disobedience to being a form of training us in the things which produce stability, grace, and joy within in our lives.

In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?  My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either.  It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.  God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.  (Hebrews 12:4-11 MSG)

We are in a "death-match" of sorts on this earth - spirit waging war with flesh until one is declared the victor.  Too many of us struggle with one winning more than the other - most of the time it is the flesh.  Until this battle is declared "over" for good, we continue to "work out" the details of our being made right with God on a daily basis.  In this "work out" period, flesh rises up time and time again to put pressure on us to conform to its demands, trying desperately to squash the influence of the Spirit within.  It isn't that we don't desire to grow in Christ - we just continue to get as close to pleasing our sin nature as we possibly can!  When we begin to see discipline as more than judgment, we begin to realize it is the effective "working out" of our change in position from being subservient to the flesh's demands and listening closer to the still small voice of the Spirit instructing us toward godliness.

In the day-to-day decisions we make, this battle becomes very apparent.  It also becomes very apparent that we need someone who sees a bigger picture than we do to bring oversight into our lives.  In the military, we had various individuals who "out-ranked" others, but it also meant they had a larger influence of authority over our lives.  Sometimes we declare our sin nature as "outranking" God's nature within.  When we do this, we yield authority over to the sin nature time and time again.  One of the important features of "holding rank" in the military was this degree of authority.  Ultimately, there is a Commander in Chief (the US President) - outranking all other authority in the "ranks".  Generals outranked Colonels, who outranked Captains - with the lowest rank being Private.  You didn't get any lower than Private!  Some of us walk around like we are "Privates" in this walk of righteousness - taking orders from anyone who declares they out-rank us.  Truth is - we outrank all other authorities in our lives who proclaim to outrank Christ!

There is but one authority we should submit to - one authority worthy of us listening intently to for instruction in living - Christ.  When we focus on him, we find ourselves embracing his discipline, because we find it not so much a punishment for wrong-doing, but a training in how to focus.  Focus determines direction in our lives - it is quite difficult to look one way and accurately hit the target in the opposite direction.  When we focus on what holds the authority in our lives, we often begin to get the picture of why we are struggling with things we ought to have "outgrown" by now.  Things like doubt, fear, shame, and pride.  When anyone or anything holds more authority in our lives than Christ, we will struggle with these things.  His authority will train us in all manner of godly behavior - overcoming fear, dealing a blow to doubt, putting aside shame, and triumphing over prideful actions and thoughts.

Authority is really the power to settle disputes - to determine direction. When two "factions" don't agree on a matter, someone with "authority" needs to be called to the table.  When our sin nature doesn't agree with our new nature (what we all receive at the point of salvation), we really need the "ultimate authority" to be called to the table - Christ.  He settles the disputes - one at a time, until we get it all out and every detail is under his control.  Discipline which trains us toward godliness does just this - it gets all the disputes between what we ought to do and what we find ourselves repeatedly doing out on the table.  Then he is free to deal with them!  Just sayin!

Since is a powerful word

Some of us have a tendency to deal too much in the "past tense" of our lives. There is this intense focus on the "what ifs" and the "should haves" instead of the stuff which makes up our current picture.  Maybe it is because our minds have this way of capturing those moments in living memory - "scrapbooking" the sadness of our past and continually dragging it out to dredge up these old memories in our present.  There is one part of "past tense" we don't realize - what has been done doesn't need to be done again!  Perhaps this is why God thought it so important for us to recognize the futility of continually living in sin when we have ALREADY died to it!

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?  Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?  Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?  For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.  We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.  For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.  (Romans 6:1-7 NLT)

Breaking it down for you, here is exactly what God said:

- Since we died to sin...this is not present tense, it is past tense.  When death ensues, what we once were is no longer what we are now.  As death occurs, the very life-giving source is cut off.  When we died to sin, the life-giving source was cut off - we stopped feeding what only could produce decay and destruction in our lives.  Since really means "in view of the fact that" - it is an established fact, already having been established, and inarguable.  Once you spread butter on a piece of toast, it is on there.  SINCE you spread butter on there, you cannot now "go back" on the decision to have butter on the toast - it is an established fact that butter is now in union with the bread!  SINCE we died to sin, it is an established fact that this is no longer the present condition of our heart or mind!

- How can we continue to live in it...this is not a casual question, but rather a restatement of the SINCE statement.  Our condition has changed.  When a mother gives birth to her newborn, she is no longer pregnant, but she remains a mother.  She is known as a mother, but she no longer carries around this growing, breathing life within.  In terms of our own sin nature, we no longer carry around this sin within as a growing thing, but we do still have the "nature" which we are known by.  It is this "nature" which seems to give us our mental and heart "tie" with the past way of living.  We have to recognize that sin is no longer being "fed" from within - it may still beckon to us from without, but it is no longer connected to a life source within!

- We died with him...our "past" is no longer in existence.  Our old man and those ways of doing business have ceased to exist as they once were.  As a result of death we are no longer subject to those things which held us captive all those years.  I have said it before, but it bears repeating - what is dead is dead - it develops a certain characteristic which makes it quite plain it is dead!  Today, with modern science being what it is, we often make what is dead look very much alive!  The entire embalming process even was designed to slow the process of decay so families could have a few extra days to dress up the dead corpse and say their good-byes.  Don't think me crass here, but I think we might just try to dress up our dead corpses of sin so that we can stay connected with them just a little longer!

- We also may live new lives...note it is not OLD lives we are to live, but the new.  There is no need to return to that which is dead - we don't dig up, wallow around in, and become familiar with that which is physically dead, so why do we do it with the stuff we had a connection with in our past?  Why is it so hard to cut ourselves off from the past?  Living is a choice.  We must determine to take on our new identity and not continue to connect with the old.  For those of you who don't know, I have been "single-again" for over 25 years now.  If I continued to hold onto my old identity as married to my ex, I'd be trying to live in something which is now totally off-limits to me.  There is no bond there, no tie which holds us together any longer.  So, if I held onto it when it was declared to be "dead", wouldn't you declare me foolish?  The "old" is dead and the "new" is what I have to live in today.

- Since we have been united with him...united with means we are made one with him.  In other words, we are now living in agreement with him - adhered so as to be only ONE unit.  We no longer function independently from Christ - therefore, he is there to walk us through the choices to sin or live rightly. 

What we determined to connect to becomes that which is our source for every movement or continued action in our lives.

- Sin has lost its power...at the Cross nothing remains the same.  We are no longer subject to it.  When something exerts power over something else, there is a dominating influence which must constantly be countered. Since this dominating influence has been broken by the work of the cross, it has been rendered powerless over us.  It is what we submit to which determines what we will produce.  When power is cut off from one source and connected to another, the potential to live differently occurs.  It is a matter of where we stay connected!  Just sayin!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?

(Romans 8:31-32 The Message)

In other translations, this passage begins with the words, "If God be for us, who then can be against us..."  Well, I think our worst enemy is not some demonic agent of hell, but US!  It is amazing to me to see the things we believe about ourselves that keep us limited in our lives.  The passage begins with a very telling question:  "What do YOU think?"  The answer to this question goes a long way in us walking INTO growth as we should and not AWAY FROM it!

The truth we often fail to embrace is that God did not hesitate to embrace us - in our sin, aware fully of our fickleness of heart, and knowing full well that every promise we'd make him would always be with the best of intentions!  We often want to accept God's forgiveness only when we FEEL forgiven - like when we FEEL we have DONE enough to truly be forgiven.  The truth is that God already forgave at the cross and once he forgives, it is final!

The way we "view" ourselves often determines the way we walk.  For example, if we see ourselves as a failure, we often won't try new things because we don't think we can accomplish them.  If we see ourselves as unattractive, we portray that "image" of ourselves in how we dress, the way we hold ourselves, etc.  The "image" we have of ourselves in our "mind's eye" is often overriding of the image God holds of us in his.

The verse says, "If God be for us, who can stand against us?"  I would like to say no one, but I know from practical experience that we can indeed be our worst enemy!  I want us to refer back to the beginning verses of this chapter for a moment:

Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

(Romans 8:1-2 The Message)

A new power is in operation in our lives - we can come out from under that black cloud of doubt, feelings of worthlessness, and spirit of oppression that keeps us focusing on the OLD us.  The Spirit of Christ - like a strong wind - frees us.  Living in Arizona, I know the power of a strong wind!  Monsoon season around here can see winds into the 50 mph range.  Roofs take a beating, trees are uprooted, and dust billows across the baron desert floor.  Think about the power of one monsoon wind and multiply that by about a billion.  Now, maybe you have some idea of the work of the Spirit of Christ within you!

We are freed, not because of what we do or say, but because of the Spirit that works within us as children of the Most High.  If that is not enough, here is what else this chapter points out for us:

Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.

(Romans 8:5-7 The Message)

Our own moral "muscle" is really a pretty flabby one!  Try as we might, we will never change our nature - only Christ is capable of doing that.  Attention to God, and the activity of his Spirit within us, is what leads us into places of freedom beyond our wildest imagination.

Isn't it time that we begin to examine ourselves in the mirror of the Word and not the mirror of our minds?  

Salvation 101 - Part I - Why is grace needed?

^16-18"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him."

(John 3:16-18)

This past week someone asked me the question that seems to come up at one time or another whenever groups get together in an attempt to understand their faith just a little bit better.  That question was:  Is the "once saved, always saved" term biblical?  Tough question and I know parties that will weigh-in on both sides of this equation, but over the next couple of days, I hope to take you through some scriptures that might help to answer that question - or at least, provide the biblical perspective "in context" rather than taking a few verses out of context.

First, let me lay a little foundation.  Salvation is a term used in Christian churches to describe the condition of having surrendered your body, soul, and spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is more than asking Jesus "into your heart", as some put it.  It is a condition of "exchange" - we exchange our filthy, unholy condition for the holy and whole condition of God's Son Jesus.  This exchange is something that is a result of believing in the work of Christ on Calvary in dying for the sins of mankind.  It comes by faith - there is absolutely no amount of "doing" that makes us "saved".  

What really happens at the point of "salvation" is that we are delivered from the potential of eternal death.  There is a lengthy passage in Matthew 25:30-46 that speaks of weeping, gnashing of teeth, being cursed, everlasting punishment, and eternal life.  One is the condition of eternal death - the other is eternal life.  There is a very real separation from God that is eternal and there is only ONE way to ensure that we escape that eternal separation - Christ.

Sin is really a condition of heart that means that we have gone beyond the boundaries God has set for our lives.  Sin is more than a "passing thing" in our lives.  It is a series of behavior problems that stem from wrong attitudes, impure motives, selfish actions, and just plain wrong patterns of conduct.  By nature, we are pretty self-centered individuals - always on the lookout for how a circumstance will affect US.  We are born with this nature.  If you don't believe me, look at a newborn.  They pop out hungry, expecting to be fed.  They soil their diapers, expecting to be removed from what makes them uncomfortable.  They miss the warmth of the womb, so they cry until they are rocked into slumber.  

Behavior may be a learned thing, but our sin nature is something that we are indeed born with.  Our tendency to sin is therefore not a LEARNED thing, but a product of the nature we were born with.  If you don't believe me, try changing a particular behavior.  You may change that behavior, but underneath the very sin nature that encouraged that behavior is still there - that is why we struggle with change so much.

Many people feel they can just deal with their own sin - like willpower is enough!  Willpower is the desire and ability to resist something, but it is a self-motivated action.  It is important as we begin this discussion to realize that we cannot transform our spirit without also having our "nature" touched by the hand of God, too.  We need that nature to be altered by the altar!

"Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him."

(Romans 5:6-7)

We probably have a little problem associating with this passage because we don't really understand this kind of sacrificial love and commitment.  We had absolutely no ability on our own to "procure" our salvation.  There was nothing in man that could make right what sin had made so wrong.  So, God being the loving God he is, made the provision for our sin - he provided the exchange of nature we so desperately need, but could never produce by any effort of self-determination or willpower.  

The passage in Romans goes on to say that God has a holy nature and his holy nature cannot coexist with the sin nature of man - in order to come together, the nature had to be "fixed".  Reconciliation with God requires a change of nature.  Man must act on what has been provided in order to enjoy the provision.  In other words, we must desire the exchange of our nature, calling upon the sacrificial work of Christ to make us holy.  

As we conclude today, remember this:  God made provision for the exchange of our nature - that provision is Christ.  All we "do" is accept the work of the cross, believing that Jesus is the only provision for our sin problem.  It is through Christ that we exchange natures - no other way works!