My First Love

"'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
(Rev 2:2-4)

Okay, so I took just a little liberty with the title of this blog. Perhaps it caught your eye. One can not help but think of fairy tale endings and Hollywood movies when you mention your first love. But what about your everyday walk with the one who created you? How exactly does your first love come into play there?

While I was preparing for our upcoming D-Now sessions, I was captured by the verses above. I found myself described more by the first couple of verses than someone who had been captivated and was enthralled by my first love. I have to wonder how many people today are caught in the same situation. Maybe I need an attitude adjustment.

You see, I find myself toiling for Christ all the time. I am constantly reading and studying His word, hoping to find myself as one approved for every good work. But why? I am afraid that this is where I have slipped recently. Could it be that I have allowed a sense of obligation to creep into my walk? I think I have and I need to get rid of it.

Scripture has an amazing quality about it. It is able to capture three or more different concepts within one set of words and convey it to the reader at different times when needed. When I read the above passage I can not help but think that I have been toiling patiently hoping to endure until the end. Please note that the church of Ephesus was not condemned for their work. All of the things that they were doing were good things.

No, it was their attitude that was wrong. The words capture it perfectly as I illustrated above. All the theology and study is meaningless if we have forgotten the reason behind it. Our first love. If we remember that love then we will not find oursleves toiling anymore. Nor will we be patiently enduring.

If we love Him, we will expectantly be looking for Him in all that we do. We will want to learn more about Him at every chance we can get. We will fill our conversations with Him because we are in love. Our goal will become to try and please Him because we love Him, not simple obedience out of fear and reverence. We will want to share our days with Him and confide in Him all of our hopes and fears. I have been lacking this of late.

Do me a favor if you see me slipping. If you see me weary and heavy laden, remind me of my first love.


Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
(Mat 11:28-30)

Joy in the Journey

This is a bit of a departure for me from my normal blogging. I hope to return to it soon, but this has to be said.

This past week I had my 25 year class reunion. It was amazing to get back together with people that I shared a common bond with in my former life. Many of my classmates I had known since 6th grade. Now that the weekend is over I am left with an ache and a longing that I have not experienced in prior reunions. I have been trying to put my finger on exactly what the problem is but I am not sure if I have or not.

I feel like I did a poor job this past weekend of showing my friends that I love them. Maybe that is a problem we have every day that only surfaces when we are around people we do not see very often. There is no anger over the past, no envy of others successes, but how do you communicate that without sounding like you are apologizing for a crime you may not have committed? I am just happy to see you. I am glad that you are around and that we have this common bond.

When I was in high school, I was very insecure in who I was. I was constantly looking and searching for approval from others. It is part of me that still has not died completely but at least now I am comfortable with who I am. Life has humbled me. I know now that I am not as good as I had hoped to be but I am content with who I am.

So what? This is probably what you are wondering about now. Maybe I can tie everything together so I can get my point across and end the ache in my chest (although compassion is a good thing). It was truly my joy to see each and every one of you this weekend. I love you guys and look forward to the next time we see each other. I wish I could be as bold in person as I am on my laptop, but unfortunately I am still pretty retarded socially around those that knew me before.

There are many of you that I spoke with this weekend that have left an indelible mark in my life. That may sound laughable from a few hours on a Friday and Saturday but it is true. Trust that you are one of them. I am glad to know you. Until next time.

Bruce

Can you Hear Him Now?

1 Kings 19:11 ...Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

I love going to youth camp every year. It is truly a time of refreshment where we draw nearer to God. We engage in Biblical practices that are designed to draw us close to God and I love the way the students respond to His Glory. One of my favorite memories from camp this year was the quiet time that I had with several of the adult leaders and students each morning. I took this time to focus on the message for the day and how to best relay it to the students in a manner that they could understand.

As I return to work from camp, I can't help but think about the above passage. Am I going to only look for God in the disasters of life or am I going to be constantly listening for the gentle whisper to guide me from day to day? Don't get me wrong- His presence was there throughout all of the activities that we did at camp. I just want to make sure that I continue to listen every day when there are no earthquakes and no fires.

My prayer for you is that you can incoporate what you learned at camp into your daily life. Spend time reading His Word. Meditate on it. Study it to understand the full meaning. Fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ- let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Spend time daily in worship of the King and be rewarded with the gentle whispers that prod us on toward the glory to which we have been called.

Hopefully six months from now, you will be able to answer that yes; you can still hear Him now.

Peace, Bruce

The Problem of Evil- Part Five

Romans 8:12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Imagine if you will two prostitutes. Both of them on the same day meet men that they want to share the rest of their lives with. The first one continues to sell herself at night to whoever is buying. She tells her friends that she is getting married to the man of her dreams and they laugh at her and scoff because she is still selling herself to the highest bidder. They do not believe her because her actions do not reflect her words. The second one immediately begins to dress modestly and seeks out an occupation that is respectable. She still struggles with the desires for money that led to prostitution but she is standing on the promise. She knows that she has met the man of her dreams and she wants nothing more in the world than to be with him. Her friends look at her and long for a bridegroom to come along and change their lives in such a drastic manner.

You very well may have been asking yourself (if you have been following along) why I chose this particular text to go with a series of posts about the problem of evil. A friend of mine has been discussing the problem of evil with an atheist friend of his. The problem of evil is very real. The most common way to phrase the question is why is there so much evil in the world? Another way to phrase it (as I have pointed out) is why is there evil within me?

The lingering question that perhaps is not evident is why is there evil within the church? If we have an obligation to live by the spirit, then why are we not doing that? If we are sons of God, then why are we living like we belong to Satan? I am not talking about legalism here, but living by the Spirit. When we mess up we should not be defiant, but repentant.

When an atheist looks at the church, they do not see the bride of Christ dressed in white awaiting the Bridegroom. They see people just like themselves that struggle with the same issues. You see, when we claim to have been changed by Christ and live a life that is no different, we slander the name of Christ and tarnish the image of the bride. We are the first prostitute. It is no wonder that the skeptic points at the church and scoffs.

Now I would like for you to imagine what the church would be like if we were like the second prostitute. Imagine if Christ was no longer our security fire blanket, but instead a radical life changing presence in our lives. Imagine if we all revisited the cross every day as a reminder of the price that was paid on our behalf. I can’t help but wonder if this would change the opinion of the skeptic.

Think about it.

Be My Everything

A short prayer for today and everyday. Everything by Tim Hughes.

God in my living
There in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping
God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
God in my hoping
There in my dreaming
God in my wathcing
God in my waiting
God in my laughing
'There in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing
Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory
You are everything
Christ in meChrist in me
Christ in me the hope of glory
Be my everything
You are everything
Jesus, Everything



Back to blogging tomorrow.

P.S.- Watch the video

The Problem of Evil- Part Four

Romans 8:12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

You look man, "Some people say that God ain't real 'cause they don't see how a good God can exist with all this evil in the world. If God is real then He should stop all this evil, 'cause He's all-powerful right? What is evil though man? It's anything that's against God. It's anything morally bad or wrong. It's murder, rape, stealing, lying, cheating. But if we want God to stop evil, do we want Him to stop it all or just a little bit of it? If He stops us from doing evil things, what about lying, or what about our evil thoughts? I mean, where do you stop, the murder level, the lying level, or the thinking level? If we want Him to stop evil, we gotta be consistent, we can't just pick and choose. That means you and I would be eliminated right? Because we think evil stuff. If that's true, we should be eliminated! But thanks be to God that Jesus stepped in to save us from our sin! Christ died for all evilness! Repent, turn to Jesus man! " Lecrae- Truth

This my friends, is the Gospel. The Good News. Too many people think that turning to God is a way to better stuff or to a better more comfortable life. This is not what the Gospel teaches. The law is there to show us that we have fallen short of God’s perfection. The history of the Jewish people shows us that even with God walking amongst us we would still choose not God. The prophets point to a day when all will be made right, when God will heal His people and make them righteous. The New Testament proclaims what was promised in the prophets and hinted at in the books of the law and history.

What has God done about evil? He has paid the price for it for all who would believe. He sent His Son so that we might know that He is just. He sent His Son so that we might know that all can be forgiven. He sent His Son so that we might know that He is faithful in His promises. He sent His Son so that we might know that He is holy. His justice is not the same as ours you see. While we were deserving of punishment, He sent Someone who was undeserving to take our place.

A price needed to be paid for all evil. The unbeliever is correct that evil should not go unchecked. But it has not. It has been paid in full on the one who deserved it least. The entire measure of God’s wrath was poured out on His Son so that we could be made right. So that we might have a chance to know Him.

Perhaps it is best summed up in the following scripture. I invite you to read the whole thing. It is Hebrews Chapter 10.

Hebrews 10
(Christ's Sacrifice Once for All)
1The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.' " 8First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16"This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." 17Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." 18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. 19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. 38But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." 39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Christ willingly chose to do what His Father requested. 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.' For those that choose to believe there is hope, there is peace, there is reconciliation. We can, we have, and we shall be made right before God. He has paid the price for evil for you so that you do not have to pay the price yourself. I hope that you can realize that. For those that choose other, there is nothing left but judgment and a reckoning for your sins. Think about it.

And now to the text…

The Problem of Evil- Part Three

Romans 8:12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

So we have explored reason number one why God allows the existence of evil (there is another reason we will explore later) and why the existence of evil is not a logical objection to the existence of God. The question that follows is this: if God allows for evil to exist, then does that mean that it is okay to do evil? Does God turn a blind eye to evil? Will bad people get away with it in the end?

These questions can only be answered if we examine the nature of God as revealed in the Bible. We all know from the Bible that God is loving- indeed we know from John 4:16 that God is love. But sometimes we forget some of His other attributes. We will examine four other attributes.

Perfect
We know from Matthew 5:48 that God is perfect. This is an important attribute. It is the attribute by which we can define all of His other attributes for if God is perfect, then His attributes are perfect as well. As we examine His other attributes we will see just how important this is.

Holy
In both Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 we are told three times that God is holy. If it was not enough to know that God was perfect in His Holiness by inferring it from above, the point is hammered home to us in these scriptures. God is unlike any other (see Hosea 11:9), and His holiness is the essence of that “otherness.” His very being is completely absent of even a trace of sin (James 1:13; Hebrews 6:18). He is high above any other, and no one can compare to Him (Psalm 40:5). God’s holiness pervades His entire being and shapes all His attributes. His love is a holy love, His mercy is holy mercy, and even His anger and wrath are holy anger and holy wrath. These concepts are difficult for humans to grasp, just as God is difficult for us to understand in His entirety.

Faithful and Just
In 1 John 1:9 we learn that God is faithful and just. These two attributes go together for by God being perfect in his faithfulness; we know that we can trust Him- always and in everything. The Greek word used here is pistos and means trustworthy. This is important because we often tend to think that God might not care about some small sin we have committed. But we know that God is also perfectly just. So if God says that He will punish even the smallest sin, then we know not only that we can believe Him, but also that He is just in punishing the smallest sin.

So what does all of this mean? It means that God will not judge us based on human standards but on His holy standards. We will not be compared to Hitler or Mother Theresa when we face God at the judgment. We will be compared to His perfection and we will be found lacking. According to His word, a price must be paid for our sins. No, evil has not and will not go unpunished.

There is a small part of me that wants justice. But then I think about what that would mean for me and I realize that I only want justice for others- and even this is my idea of justice, not God’s. For me, I want mercy. Are you honest enough with yourself to admit that you too would like to have mercy for yourself and maybe, just maybe, for others?

Stay with me. We will look at what God has done to punish evil and what He will do next. Then perhaps we will finally get to the text of the scripture.

The Problem of Evil- Part Two

Romans 8:12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.


Let me back up for just a minute. I seem to have gotten to my conclusion well before I have made my opening statement. Let us address the question of why God allows evil in the first place before we go too far down the road of why evil is still present. It seems that God had four options concerning creation of our world and evil. I am going to paraphrase Ravi Zacharias a bit in my summation:

1. God could have created no world at all- this option does eliminate evil, but there would be nobody here to notice it. Since we are here, we can safely ignore this option (and be thankful that God did not choose it).
2. God could have created an amoral world- in this world there would be no right and no wrong. There would be nothing we could point to and say “that is good” or “that is evil”. Clearly we sense a distinction between celebrating the birth of a child and mourning the senseless murder of the same child. The very fact that we have the words good and evil tells us that we know there is a difference between the two and that we do not live in an amoral world. I think I can safely say that we would not want to live in such a world either.
3. God could have created a world in which we could only choose good- in this world we would be some sort of automaton programmed to always do right and never do wrong. This may sound appealing to some but there are problems with this world as well. There would be no freedom for the creatures of this world. Without freedom, love can not exist. For without freedom one can not choose not to love. If one can not choose not to love, then one can not choose to love either. Clearly we have options here so this is not the world that God created for us either.
4. God could have created the very world that we live in- a world that allows for the existence of evil. You see, without this option at least being available to us, we can not have love. The only possible way you can have a choice to love is to have the choice to hate. You can only have good in the world if evil is possible no matter how awful that evil may seem to us.

The very existence of evil is evidence for God. If you admit that there is evil in the world, then you must also admit that there is good. If you admit there is good, then you must posit some sort of moral law by which to differentiate between good and evil. If there is a moral law, then there must be a moral lawgiver. But this is exactly who you are trying to disprove by your initial objection so I ask the objector- what exactly are you objecting to?

I would like to suggest that perhaps the objector in his denials of God (because of evil) admits evidence that he would rather not admit. My only hope is that the objector will examine the possible reasons that God would allow for evil and explore what God has done and will do about it.

As a side note in case you are wondering- I will eventually return to the text of the quoted scripture. Please be patient.

The Problem of Evil- Part One

Romans 8:12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

I am not the best father in the world. In many ways I fall short. I often lose my temper or fail to discipline my children as I should. I sometimes take comfort in the fact that I do better than some other fathers, but this simply won't do. I feel that I have an obligation as a father to model my theology of The Father when I am parenting. I fall short in this as well.


This was brought home to me this past week. I have a friend who left his father's house. We took him in for a few days while he resolved his issues at home. End result was his father took him back in, but during the time he was at our house, I could not help but question this man's ability to be a father. Even though I am not privy to all of the things that have influenced this father's decision to allow his son to be homeless. Nor was I privy to whether the father even wanted that to happen.


I am lucky today that I can see my own hypocrisy. I have met so many people that have questioned God because of suffering or evil in the world. I have dismissed their complaints upon many occasions without seeing the true issue here. They are not privy to the reasons that the Father has allowed this to happen.


The Father could have destroyed evil and I believe that one day He will. However, if He were to destroy it today, what would become of me (and you if you are honest)? Does evil not reside in my heart as well? If true justice were served would I not suffer the same fate as those that I deem to be "worse" sinners than myself? But if the Father hates evil, why does He allow it to continue? You see, that question is the real key and the only one that matters.


There seems to be an assumption that somehow those that do real evil will somehow get away with it. That God is somehow turning a blind eye to deceit and disobedience. This is simply not the case. You see, true destruction of evil would result in there being none of us left. For all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's plan for perfection. But none will "get away with it". There is a price to be paid for all sin and evil. The question before you is are you willing to pay that price yourself?

A Challenge or Two

For the past couple of months I have been working with my former classmates from high school to organize our upcoming 25th reunion. There is a great temptation when you are thrown back together with old friends to fall into old habits. One of the temptations is obvious. There may have been old habits that your friends associate with the old you. Maybe you were prone to swearing or gossiping or drinking, but whatever it was the temptation is obvious.

It is also easy enough to overcome when you have been removed from these friends for a long time. You have new habits with your new self that have taken the place of the old habits and just because you are around your old friends that does not mean you have to give in to the old temptations. So you refrain from gossiping, swearing, and drinking and you feel quite proud of yourself and all the while you have neglected the greater command that you have not seen as a temptation.

The Bible it up nicely here in Luke Chapter 10:
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Just who is my neighbor (hint: read the rest of Luke 10)? And what is the temptation that I am referring to that I have to be careful of? One of the easiest things to do when you are with a group of friends is to exclude others. To not show them the love that you so easily show to your friends. So my challenge when I return for my 25th reunion is to not exclude anyone and to show the love of God to all that I meet as equally as I can. This will be far more difficult than refraining from the "obvious" sins.

How about you? Did you see anyone at church recently that you did not know already? Did you make the effort to make them feel welcome? Or did they leave wondering why they bothered to make the effort? My challenge to you is to seek out those that don't already belong more frequently and to make them feel welcome. It is not really that difficult. You can start like this: Hi, my name is _________. I am happy you joined us tonight. Let me know if I can do anything to make your visit more enjoyable.

We are great at hugging our friends, but how about our neighbors?

The pure in heart

Matthew 5:1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I have recently enrolled in college and I apologize for not updating my blog sooner. It is no excuse, but I allowed it to become an excuse. I have been struggling a bit with the topic as well. What exactly does it mean to be pure in heart? How will we see God if we are pure in heart? Is there a method by which we can become pure in heart?

Interestingly there are several definitions for the word translated here as pure and some of our answers can be found there. First of all there are a couple of ways that we can be made pure. The first is by fire. This is how metals are purified. They are superheated and all the impurities get burned off. The second way to be made pure is by pruning. The gardener comes along and trims away the dead branches and we become more suitable for bearing fruit. If I were to be given the choice between the two, I think I would choose the pruning rather than the fire. Of course during the actual pruning, I am sure that I will not be so happy about it. Both of these definitions are pertinent to being clean in the physical sense.

The word could also be used to indicate clean in the levitical sense. This would be doing things that are not forbidden or things that impart no un-clean-ness to us. This would be a bit problematic for me if I were to attempt to become clean in this manner. I do not know the levitical law well enough to know how many of the laws I have broken, but I do know it well enough to know that if I were depending on my own adherence to the law for being clean, I would be in big trouble.

The third way that the word is used is similar to above but from the ethical perspective rather than a legal one. This would mean that we were blameless, innocent, free from sin, and unstained by the guilt of anything. Once again, this is a bit problematic if I look at my own self for satisfying the criteria of being clean.

Ultimately I know that I can only become clean because of Christ and even then it is not me that is clean but Christ's clean-ness is transferred to me. And the master gardener has occasionally pruned some dead branches from my life. However, one of my favorite passages is:

Philippians 4:8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Interesting that Paul here tells us that when we put into practice what he has taught us and when we think about the things that are pure and noble and right, that God will be with us. Perhaps, with God's help, this is something that I can do.

Everyone needs compassion...

Hillsong United- Mighty to Save
Everyone needs compassion,Love that's never failing;Let mercy fall on me.Everyone needs forgiveness,The kindness of a Saviour;The Hope of nations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE92VCpTDWg

Matthew 5:1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I hope that the New Year has dawned on you with hope for tomorrow. I pray that your hope is grounded in Christ and that you are trusting in Him.

The verse that I am looking at today can seem very simple. Everyone needs some mercy thrown their way and we are all in favor of that right? I think most of us want mercy for ourselves and are not quite so quick to grant it to others. Why is that? Why is it that we are so willing to condemn others when we ourselves are pretty worthy of condemnation? I must look at myself first.

I have two cyber friends that I have known for quite some time. One of these friends is not a believer. They are however, very loving and I am particularly fond of the occasion when they came to my defense much to my surprise when I was in the midst of a debate with an atheist. The other friend is a believer and quick to condemn any behavior that does not suit him. I know that he is correct in his orthodoxy but I have doubts about his orthopraxy. How do I balance teaching the word without coming across as condemning?

Luke 10:29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

The first thing you notice here is that the expert in the law wanted to justify himself. I see this desire in myself and I know that it is wrong. It is a constant struggle to remind myself that I can not justify myself and that I am only justified through Christ. The question that you have to ask yourself is what is the secondary motive for asking the question of Jesus? Could it be because he only wanted to show mercy to those that were deserving of mercy? Could it be because he did not really want to show mercy to anyone?

30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

The solution here is to show mercy to everyone. Jesus does not define who the neighbor is but how to be a neighbor and that is by showing mercy. I said earlier that I have to look at myself first and the reason is pretty simple. I often feel that my friend who is so quick to condemn is very wrong and could use a good smackdown. But then that puts me right there with him doesn't it? My challenge is to learn how to balance sharing the correct belief (orthodoxy) while showing the correct actions (orthopraxy) out of love in both cases. I pray that God gives me the strength, wisdom, and guidance to do exactly that in the year to come.

Peace, Bruce