Grace and The Sovereignty of God - Part III

Further thoughts regarding God's grace and sovereignty. One of the things I often hear is how can a loving God permit pain and suffering in the world.

I do not know all or necessarily any of the answer to that question, but here is how my recent thinking made me work through it (for now).

A loving God wants us to fully realize the joy that a close personal relationship with Him would bring, fueled by our faith and trust in Jesus and our desire to be obedient to the will of God that comes through that faith and trust. A loving God also allows us the freedom to make our own choices. I cannot fully reconcile God's sovereignty with the concept of personal accountability, but I do know we will stand in judgment one day (Hebrews 9:27), the results of which will depend whether we have trusted Christ or not. Lots more can be said about that. Lots more.

But moving on, I see pain and suffering in a fallen world being used to address two things:

• Pride - as sinful beings in a fallen world, we do need to deal with our pride and how it can drive us away from God, away from His will, away from the joyous union with Him.
• Dependence - as sinful beings in a fallen world, we need to come to terms that only dependence on Him will get us through to eternal salvation and security.

Pride cuts against dependence on God and drives us from it. maybe pain and suffering are actually a loving way to draw us to Him. 

It may sound cruel, but the temporary pain of a temporal life (even though it does not feel temporary when it is occurring) may be a loving way to draw us to the eternal joy of union woth God. 

We are after all sinful beings in need of saving from ourselves.

Grace and The Sovereignty of God - Part II

A good thing is happening here. I have been thinking a lot about grace, a lot about the sovereignty of God. I have written a little about my thoughts and that is making me think about it all the more. A good thing.

As I explore it a bit more two other thoughts begin to bubble up to the surface: acceptance and condemnation.

• With God's grace and sovereignty, you can accept people as they are.  Not necessarily accept what they are saying or doing, for that may be against God';s will. But accept them as people, and as a result, love them more as people. Not for what they do or say, but who they are. People, lost without a loving God unless they accept Christ as Savior, lost and unacceptable to all. That is, unacceptable without God's grace manifested in the atoning, substitutionary death of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead in victory over all.
• With God's grace and sovereignty, there is no need to condemn anyone.  When you realize your own unacceptability but for His grace, you realize there is no one you should be condemning, as you are no better than they. When you accept the fullness of His sovereignty, you realize there is no need to do so, because He is in control and will square all things in His timing.

Faith and trust in Jesus as the sole way to your eternal salvation was the starting point of my journey into God's grace and sovereignty. Such a rich journey, such a long way more to go.

Grace and The Sovereignty of God

I have been doing more thinking than writing lately, a condition that is probably better for me in the long run. What I have spent a good deal of time thinking about is grace and God's sovereignty.

I have come to some preliminary conclusions. I say preliminary because of well what the conclusions are:

• My study of grace and God's sovereignty is a life-long process: Now you see why my conclusions are preliminary, I do not believe you ever fully plumb the depths of either topic. The more I study, the more I meditate, the more I learn. And the farther I find I have to go.
• I tend to try to limit God's sovereignty: At least I usually do. The more I worry about my little world or expand that worry to what is going on in the world, I am actually limiting the sovereignty of the Lord. He is in control, I usually do not have a clue as to what He is up to until after He has accomplished His purposes.
• I need to keep the His grace and my living the Christian life separate: While I need to accept what He has willed, and do so with at least a minuscule measure of the grace Christ exhibited on earth, and the Father lavished on us from heaven; I do need to try to achieve all I am capable of in living in a Christ-like way. I should not accept what happens in the world without trying to do my part to influence and change it, but I cannot take the burden for righting all the world's problem. It is probably better if I just try to discern what role He has for me in my small corner of things.

So acceptance of His grace and sovereignty comes down to three things: faith, trust and obedience. Faith in God's character, trust that Christ is my salvation and obedience to His will. 

And I need to keep thinking about all of this daily.

All My Other Stuff

We spent yesterday visiting with friends who attend Reunion Church down at the Dallas Convention Center. Before the service at the church, we visited with them at a small worship service with The Men of Nehemiah. I'll leave it to you if you want to go and read up on this really cool ministry. One of the big things I got out of it is that when you have nothing but Jesus to hold onto in your life, you love Him with your all, and you are not afraid to show it.

Makes me think about whether my stuff ever gets in the way of loving Jesus the way these men love Him, and showing it the way that they do.

It also makes me realize that we sometimes have a whole lot to learn from people that society often looks down upon, in this case men who are dealing with issues of poverty, homelessness,substance abuse, crime and violence. Dealing with the aftermath.


But loving Jesus with a passion and a dependence that is sometimes missing amongst those of us who have other stuff to cling to, and not just Jesus.


It was a refreshing and sobering reminder to keep the main thing the main thing:

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 (NASB)

His (In)visible Presence

For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.Exodus 40:38 (NASB)

Throughout their desert wanderings the nation of Israel had the visible presence of God in their midst. Cloud and fire was with them, cloud and fire led them through. It was a visible manifestation of His sovereign presence that gave them the direction they needed to take. Yet still they stumbled, even in His very presence. You could say the nation of Israel stumbled their way through the Old Testament. Complaining about the food, the water, whatever. Gaining their freedom in God's presence by His visible Hand and complaining about leeks and onions. Getting up every morning to pick up the very bread baked by God and grumbling about something.

I am convinced we would do no better than they did, so no smirking or feeling superior.

We do not have His visible presence, but we do have Him anchored in our life. He is not visible, but He is not hidden, not shrouded form us. He can very much be the center of our life. If we have trusted Jesus as our Savior, as the only means of our salvation, we have the indwelt Holy Spirit in our lives. So we have a better deal than Israel, not just God with us but in us. And even with that, we still stumble through our sinful and sin filled lives (I told you no smirking).We stumble, but He is there to catch us.

Good thing, as it is the only way I am getting through it all is that He did and continues to do the work I cannot and never will be able to do; being perfect before a Holy God. Trusting in the Son to reach the Father whom He revealed to us, doing it all through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

Good thing He is who He is, because of who I am and will always be.

Avoiding A Spiritual Caldera

Caldera. I like that word today. A caldera is a basin like depression formed by the explosion or collapse of the center of a volcano. You have all the heat and energy and activity. Then the bottom falls out of the top and you have a caldera. A kind of sunken look, a mere shadow of the former power and energy you once saw flowing from that volcano, when it was full in its' passion and activity and rocking the world immediately around it.

Doesn't sound like a good idea to have a spiritual caldera, does it? Who wants a collapse, when we need the fires to be burning as hot today as when we came to faith in Jesus, as hot tomorrow and each day until He comes back or calls us home.

I clearly want to keep the fire stoked, don't you? So I am in the Word daily, recently I started participating in an on-line bible study (my first) on Psalm 119 with some really cool and very godly women (and a guy or two), I work at an  evangelism training and outreach ministry, I attend seminary part time, I try to focus hard on my prayer life.

I am stoking my fires as best I know how right now. (Know how right now. How now, brown cow? Not sure where that came from. Possibly a mini-caldera, an attention implosion.) I am a little shy of 8 years into my faith walk, and I want to make sure that fore keeps burning bright. 

I know it isn't about the volume of activity but the level of intensity. So I am trying to do all these things as deeply, as sincerely, with as much fire as I can. I hope I am succeeding. I will keep going. I choose to avoid the caldera of a cooling passion for the Lord. I want the fire kept hot so I am stoked for the Lord, but that the fire also burns away what is worthless in my life, what is worthless in the pursuit of the Lord and the giving to Him of all glory.

I hope you are doing things to keep your fires stoked up to their full potential. Anything less than a blazing bonfire is not giving God the glory He so richly deserves from each and every one of us.

We (I) are open to suggestions as I (we) keep stoking things up at our (my) end.

Time Moves

At seemingly differing speeds, all at the same instant.

Here it is, the 1st of October, the year 2010 is rapidly winding down, the Christmas season will be upon us before we realize it (Is someone keeping track of how many shopping days are left? It would not do to lose track of the true reason for the season after all). We will celebrate the birth of our Lord (the real season reason in case you missed the sarcasm), and move into a new year. Time moving at what seems to be ever increasing pace as I get older.

Here it is, the end of another work week. There has been vacation time, and travel and return to house, hearth and cubicle. A good week, but one that has seemed to go on longer than the 4+ days that have transpired.

Time at differing speeds at the same instant. As I ponder this, I think it is my faith walk that allows me to cope with the changing speeds of my life. It is walking with Christ that allows me to know that whatever pace life takes, I am moving at the right speed, for He is with me and I feel Him by my side. My faithfulness in Him doesn't change His attitude to me, He loves me, no matter what. But it allows me to be calm in Him but of that faithfulness.

Time moves as He wills it, and I hope to keep up the pace He wants me to.

Impact

Speaking to a friend yesterday, he told me he had reflected on what I had said in a recent blog post and as a result, needed to talk to some people about some stuff.

Oops.

While those of us who blog are looking to share thoughts and ideas, and are hopeful that they make an impact with someone; I always find it a bit daunting when someone actually tells me that something I wrote actually has done that. It makes you stop and reflect on what it is you are doing with this whole blogging thing, makes you reflect on whether your words are making things better, and not worse.

I take comfort from the fact that I seek to follow Christ as I live my life, I seek to make Him the standard by which I am measured (and I do fall short, but only those times when I am measured against Him). It is the best barometer for measuring how it is I am impacting the world around me, the standard of Jesus; His teachings, His life, His commands to us on how to live our lives.

The impact, the effect I have on others will never be the wrong one if I am following hard after Him, seeking out the His will. I can be assured of doing as He wills, if I am faithful to Him alone in the pursuit of my life and how I interact with others. I have no idea in this particular instance of what I might have impacted, what course of action, what path I have set someone down. I trust that it is the path He would want walked, the footsteps He would have fall in the time and place He chooses to hear them.

Nor can I know what path it is that I might now walk on as a result of how I think about what I am writing now.

But this I do know.

I cannot go wrong if I stay on The Narrow Road.

Technorati Tags: Jesus, God, faith, impact

Be Ready and Waiting

I have been thinking of the post I put up on Thursday last, of being ready for the Lord. Maybe I should expand that to be ready and waiting. For He calls us to wait (part of the maturing our faith that enables growth in our relationship to Him). I started thinking about this on the drive home Friday night, when while flipping through the dial (OK, pushing the arrow on the steering wheel) I came across Layla by Derek and the Dominos. If you do not know who Derek is, I cannot help you. There is only so much I can do.

This classic became a staple of FM rock stations in the 70's and my favorite part of the song was what I think of as the bird tweet at the very end. You had to wait for it (I said it was at the very end, did I not?). I mean, the song runs 7:04 and the tweet is at around 6:59. If the DJ started talking too soon, it was cut off by talk. So I get hit with that tweet at the end and start thinking about waiting for the good stuff.

And that is what Jesus calls us to do. Wait for the good stuff. A life here, one of sin and struggle, but it can be one that ends in salvation and safety in the arms of a loving God. But we have to wait for it. In faith. Maybe impatiently, maybe anxiously, maybe peacefully or joyfully. But waiting nonetheless. In the song above, the tweet only has meaning for me if I listen to the lengthy instrumental passage (about 4 minutes) that precedes it. It only has meaning if I wait for it. You cannot rush the good stuff.

We do not know the day we will face the Lord, but face Him we will. For now, each of us is waiting.

For those who wait in faith it will be glorious. For those who do not wait in faith, please, wait in faith.

It is going to be way better than the tweet. I would say trust me, but you need to trust in Him.

Technorati Tags: Jesus, God, faith, Derek and the Dominos, Layla

Be Real

air guitar

— noun

an imaginary guitar played while miming to rock music

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009

Air guitar Christians. Do they exist? Are there people who play with an imaginary faith while miming along in worship? Ahh, you betcha. And a dangerous game to play with one’s eternal soul I should think:

²²"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' ²³"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

Matthew 7:22-23 (New American Standard Bible)

Clearly Jesus knew there were many who professed to know Him but who were going to be surprised in the final judgment. Not good. Really. Not good at all, for then there will be nothing left to turn to, but an eternity separated from God.

Authenticity in your relationship with God. make sure you have it. Whether it be with the milk of the start of a walk in faith with Jesus, or with the meat of a full, maturing relationship.

Just make sure it is not one filled with hot air only.

The Road Is Not Too Narrow, Your Feet Are Too Big

If you struggle with your walk of faith with the Lord, welcome to the body of Christ. Jesus was the perfect man, being wholly God and fully man, completely obedient to the will of the Father (Read the upper room discourse in John 13-17 to get the full flavor of that). With that in mind, with the fact that the model we are to follow is the Holy God incarnate, it is no wonder we struggle. Anyone who tells you they do not struggle is lying, and therefore by definition, struggling with their walk. They just do not want to admit it publicly.

So our sinful, prideful, lustful human nature are our too big feet to walk on the path Christ laid down for us to follow. So you need Lord's help each and everyday to follow hard after Him. Ask for it, He will grant it. You may still struggle, but you can win through.

Pray continuously. That is, live with a prayerful attitude. Turn to Him in tough times for help. Turn to Him in good times to thank. Turn to Him at all times in praise and worship. You are living the life He has decided for you to live, praise Him for it and ask for His guidance, His wisdom and help.

Be patient. With your circumstances. With others. And especially with yourself. The Lord is rarely early but never late. he shows up on time. You just need to accept it is His timing not yours.

Be thankful. For what you have. For what He has kept you from. But mainly, for what Christ died to give you for eternity.

Keep at it, do not despair. God knows what we are capable of, and He loves us anyway.

Have faith in Him.

Shifting Values

My wife spent a few days out of town recently visiting family. On the day she was returning, she asked if we had any messages. She seemed surprised when I said it hadn't occurred to me to check for them. I mean, everyone who wants to reach me calls me on my cellphone, don't they? And I have it with me almost all the time, don't I? The thought of checking messages on our land line phone just did not occur to me. Seemed so 90's. Life flows through my Droid ERIS these days.

It made me think about how values and priorities change. Due to technology, due to age, due to changing societal opinions and values. Due to faith. I had a big change about 7 years ago in my faith as I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I was a somewhat religious person before, but now I had a faith that changed my life. I check for messages in the Bible now, not in the popular culture. I read different books, watch different shows and movies. Listen to different music (well some times I listen to some of the old stuff, I am a rocker of the boomer persuasion after all). I answer messages on a different type of phone.

Things have certainly changed in my life, the most change coming in the past 7 years. But I pray one thing never changes going forward: my faith in Jesus as my Savior. And here is a verse I let echo around in my head form time to time to give me the assurance that my faith need not change because of the certainty of who He is:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8 (NASB)

When We Will Know

I have been thinking about the post I put up Saturday for a bit of time. The thread of that story, and how the Lord let me piece it together. And it made me wonder how many other stories like that there may be in my life, in the lives of people around me, in the lives of everyone. I did not know Dean, who discipled Gordon; I am not sure whether he has gone to the Lord. He would be in his late 90's at the very least by now. Dean probably didn't know the thread of his life was connected to mine through several men. At least I do not think he did.

But I am sure he will know that in heaven. In my limited mind, that is one of the really cool things about heaven (the very presence of the Living God for eternity definitely the coolest thing about heaven) is that these connections become clear, like crystal rods of light connecting us to people in His divine will.

And we will have all the time in the world (or is it all the time out of this world?) to explore these connections, laugh about them and love on all the people who are connected to us. Every once on a while I think the Lord gives us a glimpse of the infinitely eternal. A small crumb, precious and profound, is all our finite minds can grasp. That is all our minds can handle.

Until.

Then it will be glorious.

Technorati Tags: Jesus, Lord, God, heaven, faith

The Thread of a Story

Yesterday I was listening to a chapel pod cast from Dallas Theological Seminary. It was a chapel service at which Dr. Gordon Johnston spoke. During the course of his talk Gordon mentioned a chain of events that showed how God can work in our lives. As you will see, this story connects for me:

• Gordon was discipled by a man named Dean while in college. Dean made it a point to try to share his faith with someone every day
  
• Dean was instrumental in Gordon deciding to attend DTS after college
  
• While a student at DTS, Gordon was pastor at a small church in Carrollton, TX and invited Dean to come speak on evangelism
• Dean spent a week with Gordon and having not shared his faith since he got to Dallas, prayed to God one morning that he would do so before his stay ended
• Thirty minutes later Dean answered the phone, a wrong number. The same guy called right back, having dialed wrong again
• Dean shares the gospel with the guy, a fellow named Rafe, over the phone. Rafe stays on the phone and accepts Christ
• Gordon disciples Rafe after Dean goes home, helping him in his walk
  
• Rafe leads his parents,, his sister, his sister's boyfriend, a guy named Bernard Bourque, to Christ. He also led the guy he was trying to call when he dialed wrong and got Dean on the phone, twice.
  

At this point Gordon tells about Rafe and a buddy who played for the Eagles, who also came to Christ around the same time as Rafe. Good story about someone coming to faith. An interesting, interwoven story of God at work. If you listen to all the circumstances as to how the story comes together, you know it can only be God doing it. But there was a thread to the story that Gordon did not talk about that I would like to:

• Gordon also disciples Bernard (Rafe's sister's boyfriend) and influences Bernard when he was choosing to attend DTS.
• Years later, Bernard is preaching in a small bible church in Colleyville, TX that my wife and I walk into on a recommendation from an acquaintance. We hear the gospel like we had never heard before, and shortly thereafter, both of us come to a saving faith in Jesus. Bernard now pastors a church, Telos Bible, in Branson, MO. He is and will always be a dear friend and mentor. As we developed our friendship in late 2003/early 2004 I remember Bernard telling me about Gordon and the impact he had when Bernard was new to his faith, how Gordon now taught at DTS
  
• Bernard helps influence my decision to attend DTS in 2008 (OK, that isn't going as smooth as planned and yeas I am on a leave this semester, but I got my reasons and stick to the main story, will you?)
• My wife and I attended an orientation session a couple of months before I started seminary where they have one of these get acquainted with the faculty at lunch deals. We grab a box lunch and head for an empty table. A guy, obviously one of those seminary profs we are supposed to make kissy face (that is from the original Greek) with walks over at the same time and sits down and introduces himself to us.
• "Hi, I'm Gordon Johnston. And you are?"
• "Friends of Bernard Bourque"
  
• He almost fell off his chair. (OK, it didn't happen just that way. It took a few minutes for me to make the connection between Gordon and Bernard, but I really wish that had been my response. And Gordon did almost fall off his chair when I mentioned Bernard. This version sounds better, don't you think?). We still smile when we talk and think back on that first meeting and how God made us connect.
  

Hearing him talk about part of that story was a great reminder that God is at work in my life, at times in ways that are not apparent and may not be for years. What a comfort I get from knowing He is in control.

We are all threads in the divine tapestry He is weaving.

I cannot wait to see what it looks like when He is finished.


Technorati Tags: Dallas Seminary, Gordon Johnston, Bernard Bourque, God, Jesus, faith

What Is Easy, What Is Hard

There is nothing easier than getting saved, because it is solely God’s sovereign work— "Look to Me, and be saved . . ." ( Isaiah 45:22 ). Our Lord never requires the same conditions for discipleship that he requires for salvation.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: February 2 Devotional

Read this yesterday and it hit me hard. There really is nothing easier than salvation because God does all the work. There is nothing harder than discipleship because following hard after Jesus, living like Christ, cuts against our sinful and selfish nature.

What is His alone is easier for He is sovereign. What is ours to do is hard for we are sinners. Yet the first brings great joy to any who He calls in for it is eternal salvation that we face. The second pleases God because being like His Son is the highest goal we face and it is what He wants for us more than anything else.

You can have the easy through faith, you can get closer to the hard through faithful obedience. You cannot lose the first, but you will never achieve the second until He brings you home.

Technorati Tags: God, Jesus, faith, obedience, joy, salvation, discipleship

Lasting Value

I guess I am changing. I watched a lot of football yesterday, more than I have in quite some time. I used to watch a lot more, but I seemed to have tailed off in the past few years. And I must admit, I struggled to watch as much as I did (especially the second half of the Colts win, being a born and bred New Yorker, raised on the Namath Jets, it has been a long haul since Superbowl III). Even as interesting the Saints-Vikings game was, I struggled. A little sorry how much time I spent watching, but I wanted a break from school work so I took the time.

Tastes change, interests change. What was vitally important, totally absorbing of your time and attention, loses appeal. What I think of as the sprint things in life. An intense burst of speed, an accomplished goal, then a fade out. I guess the things that last are the ones that are meaningful. Friends, family, faith. Those are the things that stay with me, the things I cherish year in and out. Marathon things, with lots of stamina and perseverance. Things that take time, but that are worth the effort you pour into them. Things that will not go away and you will be glad they do not, because you need them as anchors.

I will watch the Superbowl in a few weeks, and will enjoy it while it lasts. But then, back to the race of life alongside the things I love.

A Good Week Draws to an End

I have enjoyed this week, certainly more than the week before. I have been busy, my schedule more full than it has been in a long time. Yet, it was also one of more reflective moments than I normally have. An interesting paradox, the busier I get, the more I pause to ponder life, faith and my role in the world. I mark the time, I march to the drumbeat, yet I seek to stop and smell the flowers. I strive for balance, yet I look to avoid compromise. I want for me, I want to give. I grab a hold of at the very moment I relax my grip and release.

Painfully apparent to me are my own shortcomings and imperfections, but I am happily ware that my faith in the Lord can carry me through. There have been moments of deep peace, there have been times when I could feel the tension and anxiety mounting up within me. And I can easily tell you which of those times I tried to take charge and in which I was letting Jesus lead me. The fact is I never seem to learn to let Him do it all the time, but maybe those moments of self indulgence are the ones that focus me back on what truly works, the truth of my faith.

I keep moving forward seeking a better balance, but with a divine definition of a successful day. He is the only answer for me, the only I ever needed.


Technorati Tags: Jesus, Lord, God, faith

Going Out

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Hebrews 11:8 (NASB)

Have you ever "gone out" in this way? ... Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to "go out" in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely...Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you "go out" in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does? Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to "go out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to "go out" through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.

Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: January 2 Devotional

Heading out into God's will without knowing your destination, do you have that kind of faith? I am not sure I always do. No, I am sure I do not, because I know I am a work in progress, and will be as long as I walk this earth. Taking a step being unsure of the next is one thing, taking a step unsure where your foot will land is even another. That is the kind of faith God calls us to, the kind of faith and trust that Jesus demonstrated with the Father when He walked the earth as a man.

God will not tell you His destination for you, but He will reveal it. And you will never start coming to the destination until you start going out on the journey. Start the journey today.

Technorati Tags: Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, God, Father, Jesus, journey, faith, trust, Abraham

I Am Starting To Feel Bad

About my lack of posting lately. But, apparently not bad enough to start up actively and semi-regularly. I am not sure why this is, if it is an extension of my blog hiatus of the summer, making the activity of September to November something of a dead cat bounce. An interesting comment given the picture of the pooch. Whatever, it is an extended dry period. And the picture is designed to elicit some comment, even if not about the blog topic itself.

In any event, it is not for a lack of activity in my life, there is much going on. Maybe it is for a lack of time to devote to blogging and musing over topics. It is not due to any crisis of faith that I am not blogging, I am going as strong as ever and seeking the Lord daily.

I am just not in the mood or right frame of mind to write about it. I apologize to anyone who enjoys seeing my posts (it is possible you know). I will spend some time in prayer, thinking about why I am off the grid for so long. And I will pray for guidance to start writing again. Your prayers are appreciated too. But whatever I do, I give it up to Him to guide me in my faith.

Technorati Tags: Prayer, Blogging, Faith

Faith vs Loyalty

Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him." John 11:16 (NASB)

A passage from John leading up to the miracle with Lazarus, it is the response of Thomas to Jesus' intention to go back into Judea even though there were men there looking to kill Him (the apostles were right but did not yet understand). As I read the statement of Thomas, I wonder what is in it: is Thomas faithful or is he loyal? He is clearly willing to follow Jesus, to loyally go into the jaws of death (at least that is what he says here, future events would argue otherwise). But is he faithful, does he believe that what Jesus is proposing is the will of God, and that the outcome will be as He wills? Does he believe what Jesus is proposing to do is right? What is his declaration of willingness to die with Jesus based on? Faith? Loyalty? Resignation?

To me loyalty is not necessarily faithfulness. We can do an action out of a loyalty to something and yet not believe in it deeply in our hearts. Is that possible to do with God? Can we be loyal to follow act of some feeling of obligation or duty, but not truly believe in faith? We know the doubts Thomas had about a resurrection appearance of Jesus, was he truly trusting Christ in faith before he experienced Christ himself?

After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." John 20:26-29 (NASB)

OK, enough about Thomas, his motives and heart. What I see a need to do think about my own behavior, to always check my response to God, to ensure I am moving forward in faith first. For if I do, the loyalty to Him will surely follow along. To say you follow the Lord requires faith to be sincere.

Are you sure you are just not appearing loyal to the eyes of men, but are truly faithful to the heart of God? I think I need a gut check on this daily to keep me on The Narrow Road.



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