Embrace the Within no. 180

“He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

There is an emptiness, a hole, I try to fill with something as I walk in this world. Like a giant donut, I walk around trying to fill that hole. I spent time trying to fill that hole with all sorts of thoughts, peoples, and actions. BUT none of those attempts truly replace the “mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God”. I can’t replace eternity with something temporary. I can only fill that eternal hole with eternity.

There has, over the past decades, been a falling away from attendance to church buildings except on big holidays where the routine and tradition of attendance is expected. These folks aren’t coming to church to fill their hole. They are in a routine. They are in a rut. They are stuck. And I know an awful lot about being stuck.

Three years ago, I was as stuck as I was going to get. I thought I had it all figured out and then the plague hit and I allowed everything to change. I finally hit the point where I was tired. I was filled with weltschmerz. I was disillusioned. I was lost. I was struggling. I was looking for a way out of fear and anger and hopelessness. And I found it in a path that led to a relationship with God.

I had been in a routine of showing up to church on the weekends. I had been in a routine of knowing enough about religion BUT having no real relationship with Him. I was one of those folks with a little knowledge and that always equals danger. I knew more than enough about The Bible and about church and about religion BUT I was neglecting a relationship with Him.

And that is the only thing that will fill that eternity hole. Until I chose to stop pretending to be a Christian and actually living out a daily relationship with Him, I was in a rut. I was in a routine where I could attend church, I could read The Bible, I could know a lot about religion BUT I never internalized and materialized an actual relationship. And that is what I see on weekends like these. I see a lot of folks that are where I was. And I want for them to have what I now have. A daily relationship where I am no longer untouched by God. A daily relationship that is foundationally structured around a relationship. A daily routine that does not require going to a building. A daily routine that does not rely on special clothing. A daily routine that relies on me to, as Jesus instructed, “forsake himselfe, and take vp his crosse, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

I pray that this Easter is a time for others to take a daily walk with God. I pray that the festivities and remembrances and the fellowship of our Lord brings fullness to the hole that exists in each of us. I pray that The Church shows the importance of living a daily walk with Him. I pray that we as Ambassadors of His Kingdom help show a light to those weary from the world and allow them grace and mercy and peace.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

Embrace the Within no. 179

“For this reason God gave them over to degrading and vile passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural [a function contrary to nature], and in the same way also the men turned away from the natural function of the woman and were consumed with their desire toward one another, men with men committing shameful acts and in return receiving in their own bodies the inevitable and appropriate penalty for their wrongdoing.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or consider Him worth knowing [as their Creator], God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things which are improper and repulsive, until they were filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and mean-spiritedness. They are gossips [spreading rumors], slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors [of new forms] of evil, disobedient and disrespectful to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful [without pity]. Although they know God’s righteous decree and His judgment, that those who do such things deserve death, yet they not only do them, but they even [enthusiastically] approve and tolerate others who practice them.

Therefore you have no excuse or justification, everyone of you who [hypocritically] judges and condemns others; for in passing judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, because you who judge [from a position of arrogance or self-righteousness] are habitually practicing the very same things [which you denounce][This is not a prohibition of judgment, nor is it a command to stop using godly wisdom, common sense, and moral courage together with God’s written word to discern right from wrong, to distinguish between morality and immorality, and to judge doctrinal truth. There are many judgments that are not only legitimate, but are commanded (cf John 7:24; 1 Cor 5:5, 12; Gal 1:8, 9; 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 10); however, you cannot judge another if you are committing the same type of sin.]” (Romans 1:26-32;2:1).

Hold on, this is going to be a ride. I want to start by bringing attention to how awesome the Amplified Bible is in always including the ending note I included about judgment every time a scripture that references judgment appears. And I want to reiterate what it says before beginning, “There are many judgments that are not only legitimate, but are commanded; however, you cannot judge another if you are committing the same type of sin.” And really, the only judgment that should really concern you or me is His judgment of what I am doing. Sure, our brothers and sisters can point out when we are messing up BUT we know.

When we deny the sovereignty of God and fail to follow His Will, then it is only inevitable that we will get what we wanted as Paul writes, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things which are improper and repulsive, until they were filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and mean-spiritedness” (Romans 1:28-29). And isn’t this the world? Isn’t this what we see daily around us, on social media, in the newspapers, on television?

And we have, “ . . . no excuse or justification, everyone of you who [hypocritically] judges and condemns others; for in passing judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, because you who judge [from a position of arrogance or self-righteousness] are habitually practicing the very same things [which you denounce]”(Romans 2:1). I am in no position to act superior to the world if I am still approving and justifying and practicing the same sin in the world around me. I am to be set apart. I am to be a new creature. I am to be His Ambassador. How can I do that when I am one of the, “. . . gossips [spreading rumors], slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors [of new forms] of evil, disobedient and disrespectful to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful [without pity]”(Romans 1:29-31)?

How can I do the things that I know are wrong? How can I tolerate those doing things that are wrong?

It’s easy to get caught up in the ways of the world. We live within the world. BUT we, as followers of The Christ, are not to conform to the world. We are to be Ambassadors of His Kingdom. And that means a totally different way of doing things. That means doing things like Jesus did things. Walking and talking and acting like Him rather than our fallen family, friends, and nation. And that is going to take becoming a new creature in a lot of ways. That is going to take being open to taking up His cross and walking daily in His Will. It is going to take dying to who I am and following obediently. It is going to take all of who I was and overflow who I am going forward.

I pray that I walk every day taking up His cross and walking obediently in His Will. I pray that I no longer accept and tolerate unrighteousness. I pray that I am moved by the Spirit of Righteousness in my daily walk as an Ambassador of His Kingdom. I pray that I take that responsibility with all the weight it carries.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH