…he upholds the universe by the word of his power… Hebrews 1:3
God is the one calling the shots, running the show… not you… You may as well get used to it! He’s got the world in his hand. That includes you, your dreams, your hopes and your aspirations. It will do you good to just step out of His way, because he never relinquishing the power.
I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
On May 28, 1972, the Duke of Windsor, the uncrowned King Edward VIII, died in Paris. On the same evening, a television program recounted the main events of his life. Viewers watched film footage in which the duke answered questions about his upbringing, his brief reign, and his eventual abdication.
Recalling his boyhood as Prince of Wales, he said: “My father [King George V] was a strict disciplinarian. Sometimes when I had done something wrong, he would admonish me, saying, ‘My dear boy, you must always remember who you are.’ ”
It is my conviction that our heavenly Father says the same to us every day: “My dear child, you must always remember who you are.”
| 1:14 | in Christ we have redemption |
| 1:16 | in Christ all things were created |
| 1:19 | in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell |
| 1:22 | we are reconciled in Christ body of flesh |
| 2:3 | in Christ we are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge |
| 2:6 | we walk in Christ |
| 2:7 | rooted and built up in Christ |
| 2:9 | in Christ all the fullness of deity dwells bodily |
| 2:10 | you have been filled in Christ |
| 2:11 | you were circumcised in Christ |
| 2:12 | in Christ you were raised up |
| 2:15 | triumphing over them in Christ |
| 3:20 | pleasing in the Lord |
| 4:7 | fellow servant in the Lord |
| 4:17 | the ministry that you have received in the Lord |
Let us constantly remind ourselves of who we are [in Christ.]
I’m the youngest son of two very loving and generous parents, brother to six beautiful ladies and four handsome guys. I’m the youngest man in this soccer team of 11, but I have two younger sisters. My mother made all the boys in the family take turns, with the girls, preparing dinner for the entire family during the week. Where I’m from, it is considered a thing only women do. But not in my mother’s house.
Everything the girls did we did: we cooked, we wash dishes, we did laundry. Growing up, it was important to talk to my parents and older siblings in a way that was polite and respectful. So, Mama and Papa was acceptable, nothing else. I called Marcus – “Boy Marcus” – Florence – “Sister Florence” anything else was not necessarily disrespectful, but a little impolite. Older people, outside our home were politely called – Mr. or Mrs – uncle or aunt – sir or madam, never by their first name.
Now, you may argue – “different strokes for different folks” and I’m totally cool with that, but in my home there are three things my children will never do:
Unless I give them permission to. I understand that some parents prefer being called by their first name. I am fine with that, but I hope for the right reasons. If parents think that labels like “mom” and “dad” are too associated with preconceived stereotypes and inhibit the development of true understanding in the parent/child dynamic, or because they don’t want to feel old or be associated with their own parents, than, allowing my children to call me by my first name will never happen. I am not their buddy, I am their parent. I don’t want to win the ‘cool factor’ or the ‘popularity contest,’ I’m their parent. And it certainly doesn’t make me feel old. It is unacceptable for my girls to get up one day, because they turned 17 or 19, to start calling me by my first name, not now not even when they are 150 years old.
Parenting is a full-time job. We have a solemn obligation to “train up our children in the way they should go.” What that means is, as parents, we need to set the example in the home for the kids to follow. If we don’t want them to raise their voice on us disrespectfully, are we doing that to them or to our spouse? We should never be afraid to discipline or correct certain behavior in them, never forgetting fairness and godliness. We should never allow our kids to hang out with other kids who are disrespectful to their parents. Because if they are, that is going to rub off on them. We must have a hands on supervision over what they watch on tv and what they are doing online. This is a full-time job!
I’m a big man and my girls are tiny. I’m not worried about getting hurt. But the idea of a child raising his/her hand on a parent is in and of itself sickening. My girls, by the way, are the sweetest kids in the world, and we have an awesome relationship. They will never do any such thing. But this kind of behavior doesn’t happen overnight. No child ever, just gets up one day and decides to hit his/her parents.
Kids will most likely smoke or drink if their parents do. I know, it is a poor excuse, but kids whose parents are abusive, physically and verbally are most likely to become abusive. Even after you’ve done everything in you power to raise your children to be polite and law-abiding citizens, some kids are just going to be bad. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are exceptions, and miracles sometimes do come out of horrible places. But it is imperative for us, as parents, to do our best to train up our children in the way they should go, because with that comes a promise – “when they are old they will not depart from it.”
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold
The challenge
Jesus vs King of a vast domain: Which would you rather have?
I expect to hear a resounding – ‘JESUS’ But I warn you, it is very challenging… I hope you can see the challenge in the following:
I’d rather be His than have riches untold – who doesn’t appreciate a bit of Benjamin? Everybody does.
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands – who doesn’t fancy a good-looking villa in the city or country side?
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.
I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause – who doesn’t like the number of likes on their posts going up, the number of followers increasing, a little tweet here and a little Facebook there of your posts? I do!
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause.
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame – the desire to be famous is in all of us, like it or not, it’s there.
I’d rather be true to His holy name.
I’d rather have Jesus than to be the king of a vast domain – who doesn’t like to called the big man on campus? Who doesn’t like to be the one calling the shots?
I’d rather have Jesus than be held in sin’s dread sway – than, there is a more dangerous idol – sinful pleasures and hidden sins.
I’d rather have Jesus than anything This world affords today – how about some good old fashion – STUFF. Who doesn’t like stuff. Gadgets, shoes, cars… come on guys, some really expensive toys, now you’re talking!
If you don’t struggle with any of the above, call me up and tell me. I want to be like you when I grow up. But it gets easy:
Challenge made easy
He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom
He’s sweeter than honey from out of the comb
He’s all that my hungering spirit needs
I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead
Anyone who can give up anything at anytime for Jesus, is a person who really knows the value that Jesus brings. See, Jesus makes it easy. He satisfies our hunger and our every desire. I have come to realize that nothing this world offers can satisfy this soul of mine. No matter how much I feed it with stuff, material goods and earthly pleasures, only Jesus can satisfy my deepest need. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the good things of life, “may God smite me with them, and may I never recover” in the words of Tevya, Fiddler on the Roof, but the finest things of this world will never satisfy the way Jesus does.
That’s why I’d rather have Jesus than to be a king of a vast domain
Are you a young christian thinking that your new-found faith is worth nothing?
Have you given up trying to find a new church for your family because of the bad experience you had in your last church?
Are you being tested and tried by some problem and it seems like God is nowhere to be found?
Are you thinking about ending your marriage because the situation still looks hopeless?
I can go on and on with this – but my point is this: There is so much value in you – don’t treat yourself like a loser and others like nothing. The people, the gifts and talents and resources God has given you (small or insignificant) don’t despise them and your days of humble beginnings.
Give yourself permission to thrive. It is never over until God says it’s over!
I bought Joshua Harris’ Humble Orthodoxy last night and it is really a great book. In a chapter in he calls “With Tear in our Eye,” (Page 243), he retells a story found in the gospel of Luke chapter 18:
One day two men went to church to pray.
The first man was a shallow, uninformed evangelical. Everything about him shouted of squishy theology. He didn’t know or use big theological words. He watched Christian TV and thought it was deep. He bought books from the inspirational section of the bookstore. He attended one of those mega churches where the sermons are short and the worship leaders look like American Idol contestants.
The second man who went to pray was different. He was a Christian of theological depth and substance–this was obvious by the heavy study Bible he carried with him. He only read books by long-dead theologians. He subscribed to the podcasts of all the solid, gospel-centered expository preachers who didn’t tell funny stories or make jokes in their sermons. He felt cheated if a sermon was less than an hour-long.
This second man began to pray. He said, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people–doctrinally ignorant, theologically clueless, superficial in their saccharine-sweet evangelicalism. I thank you that you have made me what I am: true to good doctrine, uncompromising on teaching, orthodox to the core.”
But the first man would not even look up to heaven. Instead he beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
At the end of the story he (Josh) asks a series of questions that I thought was a great way to drive home the purpose of the story, which of course is to “challenge people who trusted in their own righteousness and treated others with contempt.” Here they are:
The church in Ephesus, as you can tell in Revelation 2:4 had abandoned their first love. Right doctrine was a matter of life and death for them. They tested those who called themselves apostles and exposed those they thought were in error. They were zealous for sound doctrine and bringing correction to error. But in the process they had abandoned their first love and was at risk of loosing their Lampstand (their sphere of influence) if they did not repent.
I have seen a lot of blogs, pastor, teacher and christians lose their “sphere of influence” because of misplaced confidence and self-righteousness. There are a lot of great blogs, apologists, defenders of the faith out there, unfortunately, it seems like most of them are driven by a love for controversies and quarrels.
I think all of us will do well by returning to our first love, guarding the good deposit entrusted to us (because truth matters) and having nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies that breed quarrels. “We must care deeply about truth, and we must also defend and share this truth with compassion and humility.” Thanks for taking the time to read this… please let me know how you feel about it!
Frankly, parts of the Old Testament are sometimes difficult to accept, especially as they relate to God’s character. Take his command to King Saul of Israel: “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys” (1 Samuel 15:3, TNIV).
Camels and donkeys? Children and infants? Or how about this statement regarding Israel’s destruction of Jericho at God’s prompting: “They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys” (Joshua 6:21,TNIV)?
Is the God of the Old Testament a lover of war and destruction? Is God a warmonger who arbitrarily takes out his frustration? Reading certain passages, one could get this impression. This issue presents quite a challenge for Christians who have come to believe that love is the defining attribute of God. Even more so, these passages often propagate the doubts of non-Christians who are skeptical of God in the first place. But perhaps the issue of God and war in the Old Testament is more complex than we realize. Could there be other factors that we need to take into consideration? Before we judge God’s character based on a few verses, let’s examine the matter a little closer.
For starters, God often used warfare as an instrument of justice. The people that God commanded Israel to fight against had often committed extremely wicked acts. For example, the aforementioned Amalekites had attacked the Israelites in an especially atrocious way. Moses later reminded them: “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God” (Deuteronomy 25:17-18). Rather than waging war against the army of Israel, the Amalekites attacked the women, children, sick, and elderly after the soldiers and healthy men had passed by.
Other nations that Israel fought practiced child sacrifice, tortured prisoners of war, and engaged in rampant prostitution and perverse sexual acts.Therefore, it’s important to recognize that God did not randomly “pick on” innocent nations. Rather, he often used Israel to execute justice upon people who were thoroughly sinful. And lest God be accused of favoritism, he also used other nations to conquer and judge Israel itself for its sins. Second, while God sometimes used warfare to bring justice upon entire societies, political structures, and nations, it does not mean he judged every specific person who was part of that nation.
Rather, the societal values that produced these detestable acts were the target of God’s actions. Unfortunately, some “innocent” people faced the consequences, but such are the ramifications of living in a world entirely stained by human sin. A modern day example of this phenomenon is World War II. Most would agree that the nations of Germany and Japan needed to be resisted, defeated, and ultimately “judged” for their aggression and atrocities, even if it meant that some civilians of those societies suffered consequences they did not explicitly deserve. But why, you might ask, did God sometimes command the entire annihilation of nations? Drastic times often call for drastic measures.
Thus, a third reason that God often approved of total war was to demonstrate his grace to others and to future generations. Perhaps in his wisdom, God recognized that half-measures would not be effective in certain circumstances. (In fact, there were several occasions when Israel did not completely destroy a nation and eventually adopted the idolatry and cultic practices it left behind). Fourth, we should interject that the events described in the Old Testament took place during a unique period of human history. God used the nation of Israel in a distinctive way at that time, but today Christians comprise a multinational community of faith that does not follow the political and military example of ancient Israel. Therefore, Christians cannot claim the same instructions God gave specifically to ancient Israel. Moreover, in ancient Near Eastern culture, triumph in warfare was commonly associated with the strength of a nation’s god.
Consequently, the annihilation of Israel’s enemies conveyed that the one, true God of Israel had asserted his power and rule over the false gods of the Canaanites. In other words, God often utilized the currency of that culture—warfare—to make himself known. Listen to the words of one Canaanite woman when she met some Israelites: “When we heard of [the destruction your armies wrought], our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:11, TNIV).
Finally, God is also portrayed in the Old Testament as having tremendous patience, grace, and compassion. God often gave wicked nations generations to repent of their sin before he judged them, and he extended mercy to those who did (e.g., the city of Nineveh in the book of Jonah). The law that God gave to Moses also instructed the Israelites to offer peace before attacking a city (Deuteronomy 20:10). God even told Abraham that he would not destroy the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if there were just ten righteous people living there (Genesis 18).
The issue of war in the Old Testament is complex. God himself appears conflicted at times when faced with the need to exercise justice: “Though [God] brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to any human being” (Lamentations 3:33-34, TNIV). Nevertheless, the Bible also portrays a hopeful future when “[God] will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4, TNIV). This is God’s redemptive design for our world. While he sometimes used warfare to judge wicked nations in the Old Testament, and while the depravity of human sin often makes war inevitable today, we can anticipate a chapter in God’s story when war will be no more.
Research Resource: Position Papers
- Value your listening and reading time at roughly ten times your talking time. This will assure you that you are on a course of continuous learning and self-improvement. — Gerald McGinnis President and CEO of Respironics, Inc.
- It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.— John Wooden Hall of Fame Basketball Coach
- As long as you’re green, you’re growing. As soon as you’re ripe, you start to rot. — Ray Kroc
- Let the wise hear and increase in learning,and the one who understands get guidance. – Proverbs 1:5
The great value that the book of proverbs seeks to instill in a person is teachability, the willingness to grow in wisdom no matter how far long a person already is…
John Wooden said, “it’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” So keep up a teachable spirit, it will take you places you never thought of.
ONO = Oh No!
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.
Walter Bright 
You must be logged in to post a comment.