WHEN THE FINITE MEETS THE INFINITE….


sPIRITUAL bLOG - Infinite

Job 38:1-2 – “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” NASU

             It has always been amusing for me to listen to and watch the ‘pseudo-intellectuals’ attempt to explain GOD and the INFINITE.  I say ‘pseudo’ because in comparison to the Infinite Wisdom and Knowledge of God that is all it amounts to.  God demonstrated His impatience with the one-upmanship of Job and his friends in trying to prove their rightness and righteousness while appearing more knowing than their fellows.  God also demonstrated His beautiful sense of humor in His questions to Job in this Chapter.

Consider the questions:

  • Where were you when I (God) laid the foundation of the earth?
  • Who set its measurements?
  • Who stretched the line on it?
  • On what were its bases sunk?
  • Who laid its cornerstone?
  • Who enclosed the seas with doors?
  • Have you ever commanded the morning?
  • What is the way to the abode of light?
  • Where does darkness reside?
  • Have you ever entered the storehouses of the snow or hail?
  • How about the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed or the place where it is scattered over the earth.
  • Have you ever cut a channel for the torrents of rain or created a path for a thunderstorm?
  • Does the rain have a father and who fathers the dew?
  • From whose womb does ice come and who gives birth to the frost?
  • Can you cause the constellations to appear in their seasons?
  • Does nature report to you?

            These are just a few of the questions God asked Job in Chapters 38-39 and then in Chapter 40, He asked – “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?  Let him who accuses God answer him!”

Job knew he was in trouble immediately.  Job understood that he was finite and God was infinite.  He knew that his knowledge was limited and God’s was unlimited. He knew he was a creation and God was the creator.  Job knew that although what befell him was not of his own making he was in need of the mercy of God and as a flawed human being he needed forgiveness and mercy.  Sadly, some never seem to understand and continue to live lives of ‘self-justification’ rather than appealing to the mercy of God.

When I become so keenly aware of the presence of God that I can almost hold it in my hands I have a deep sense of awe and know that I am in the presence of the one who is INFINITE, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent.  HE KNOWS!  HE SEES!  HE HEARS!  Nothing is hidden from Him so when I come into His presence I seek to ensure there is no pretense only honesty.  That being said, I desire in my heart to live each day that way free of pretense and totally dependent upon God.

            May God bless you and be with you as you go through your day!

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WHEN THE MORTAL PUTS ON IMMORTALITY….


Spiritual Blog - Death Defeated

1 Corinthians 15:50-58 – “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 ” O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O  DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” NASU

 

There is so much that I would like to say and realize that there is not the time or space to do so.  Therefore, I will focus my attention on the title thought of ‘mortal putting on immortality.’  The Bible declares in Hebrews 9:27 that every person who lives upon this earth has an appointment that is inescapable with death. Yet, here in Corinthians Paul reveals something he calls a ‘mystery’ that some will escape this inevitability and leave this world without the natural process we call death and the Bible calls sleep.

Paul speaks of an event or time when those who are followers of Christ alive on planet earth at this juncture in time will be ‘changed instantaneously’ when God’s trumpet sounds and the dead are raised.  I won’t get into a debate as to the timing of this rather I focus on the fact of it.  It is this event that the apostle Paul tells his hearers is to solidify their hope and confidence in the Promises of God and Eternity.  He identifies this as a complete obliteration of the pain and sting death.  It is identified as a source of inspiration and hope in that our labor has not been in vain and to encourage us to continue laboring until He returns.

Paul tells us that ‘flesh and blood’ or the natural man in his natural state cannot inherit the Kingdom of God because these temples of clay are perishable but there will come a day when the imperishable (souls) of men and women will put on the imperishable and transition from the temporal to the eternal.  I believe that as a literal fact in Scripture and rest my hope on the sure promise of resurrection or this translation whichever my state is at that time.

Most of us have loved ones who have preceded us into eternity and have experienced the ‘sting of death’ in the sense of the loneliness that accompanies losing a loved one.  We have experienced the seeming ‘victory of death’ in that it took from us someone we treasured.  Even when we know in our hearts that they are in the presence of the Lord the loss is still painful.  But, one day, one glorious day WE WILL BE CHANGED!  One day our MORTAL will put on IMMORTALITY!   That will be a glorious day!

God bless you as you go through your day!

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WHO IS IN CHARGE – God or Man???


spiritual blog - God In Charge

Genesis 8:22 – “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” NIV

             I do not mean to be political in my devotional but I laugh at those who are clamoring and decrying the evils of mankind, insisting that man is causing global warming and climate change.  When did God turn that job over to man?  In the natural course of events of this earth there are volcanic eruptions that send huge amounts of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.  Science tells us that Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere enables the earth to absorb the infrared radiations and helps keep the earth warm.  It tells us that plants utilize carbon dioxide in photosynthesis.  It informs us that the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to form carbonate rocks and that the utilization of CO2 by the plants produces Oxygen for us to breathe and helps maintain our breathable air on planet earth.  Who did this?  GOD DID!   God established the method of how what we call ‘nature’ works and He is keeping His hand on it even today.

God is not an ‘absentee landlord’ as some have declared and while we do things that are not prudent or wise we are not going to destroy our atmosphere by our use of fossil fuels or anything else short of total nuclear chaos which may well be what some of the Bible prophecies describes in the last days.  But in Genesis, the seed book of the Bible, God said in the above passage that we would ALWAYS or as long as there is an earth the natural process of life which includes climate being controlled by Him!

My purpose is not to get into a political debate over what someone may or may not believe regarding ‘man-made climate change’ but to point to the truth that GOD IS OMNIPOTENT, OMNISCIENT, and OMNIPRESENT.  He is God, always has been, and always will be!  I trust Him with my life and my planet.  Does that mean I should be negligent in my attention to my natural surroundings?  NO!  I am appalled when I see liter and trash dumped everywhere.  As an avid outdoorsman and one who loves to hunt and fish I am wounded deeply when I see trash and garbage on our lakes, in our forests, and on our highways.  It only takes a few seconds to properly dispose of those things and as a Christian, I cannot understand just littering for convenience or laziness sake.

Over my years which have spanned a few decades now I’ve seen incredibly cold winters and incredibly hot summers in given years and the reverse on others.  I’ve seen winters so mild that you could wear shorts around Christmas and so cold that you could barely endure being outdoors for more than a few minutes at a time.  I’ve watched as the rains in the Spring and Fall are so plenteous that the ground stays saturated into the Summer and Winter and seen it so dry that if you did not water your lawn you would have no lawn or foundational stability for your house to sit on.  It has been cyclical but all the while I have believed and do believe that God is in control and I rest on His promise here in Genesis that as long as the earth is the earth and we occupy it there will be ‘seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer, and winter, day and night.’  I do not expect to wake up tomorrow and find that the hand of man has destroyed the planet that the ALMIGHTY GOD created and cares for.

My simple message is ‘Stop Fretting’ over things that are God’s to handle.  Relax and enjoy God’s gift to us and be wise in your use of it but enjoy it and enjoy Him along the pathway from the cradle to the grave!

            May God be with you as you go through your day!

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WHY I REFUSE TO WORRY ABOUT LIFE…..


Spiritual Blog - Worry

Luke 12:22-32 – “And He said to His disciples, ” For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.  23 “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.  24 “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!  25 “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span?  26 “If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?  27 “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.  28 “But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!  29 “And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.  30 “For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.  31 “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.  32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”  NASU

 

Recently I had a conversation with a person that I care about deeply and they were struggling with the condition of things in government, the state of the economy, and the future.  They were wringing their hands and lamenting that the future was so dim and dismal that they were despairing of life.  This person is a Christian albeit at that moment their faith was in another dimension not on the promises of our Lord.

I shared with them this passage, which they were very familiar with and said, “This is why I refuse to worry about life.”   You see here in simple language, our Lord Jesus said, “DO NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE….”  Don’t fret over what you are going to eat, drink, wear, and in the context of that truth where you will live.  He illustrated the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and the fact that God cares for them the way He does.  He also cautioned against worry saying that we cannot add even one hour to our lifespan through it and we now know through medical science that we can shorten our lifespan by it.  Jesus told us in the familiar verse 33 what we are ‘not to seek’ and what we ‘are to seek’.  He then concluded the statement by saying, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”  In that Kingdom, there is the King and with the King are all the resources that we could ever need.

If I worry about life I am not placing my faith and confidence in God.  I am not suggesting that we make no preparation for our latter years or that we nonchalantly go through our days with no labor or effort to earn a living.  NO THAT WOULD BE PRESUMPTUOUS.  I am saying that once we have done all we know to do then we TRUST and REST in the Promises of God and take Him at His word.  He said DON’T WORRY and I believe He meant what He said so I CHOOSE not to worry!  I believe as David declared, “I was young, now I am old and I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread.”  God has promised to take care of us and He will.

            May God be with you as you go through your day!

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WHAT IS YOUR SOUL WORTH?


Spiritual Blog -Value of the Soul

Mark 8:34-38 – “And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  35 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.  36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?  37 “For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” NASU

 

I have read and preached from this passage on many occasions and recently a conversation with a person who was a ‘self-described liberal theologian’ it came to the forefront of my mind again.  As we were discussing the existence of God and the Cross I referenced this passage as he argued that ‘everyone would go to heaven’ that a loving God could not send anyone to hell that would be out of character for God.’  I’ve met this same argument before in many different forms and each time I think that with the provision that God has made for us to have salvation our rejection of it is almost incomprehensible.

There are many other potential passages to consider but the question I asked this man who acknowledged that humans have an eternal soul, “What is your soul worth?  What value would you place on it?”  He paused and said, “I don’t know, a lot I would think.”  It was at that point that I inserted this passage into our conversation drawing attention to God’s valuation of the human soul.  God said it was worth ‘more than the entire world’ but even then that is not fully descriptive of the value God places on it for if you consider the Cross you realize that the Father valued the human soul ‘worth the blood of Jesus.’  That, to me, is almost beyond comprehension or imagination that God would place such a value on mankind.  We are His creation but that is an incredible value to place on man, who turned his back on God and in the Garden voted with the devil to remove God from being the center of His universe and enthrone man on that throne.

Therefore, if you think you have ‘done too much to be forgiven’ as I did when the Holy Spirit brought my heart into conviction regarding my sin and my condition, think about the valuation God placed on your soul.  If you feel that you have ‘no significance’ and ‘no value’ think about the Cross and the valuation that God has placed on your soul.  If you think that because of your condition, plight, your social, or economic status that God, does not care about you think I challenge you to consider the valuation He has placed on your soul.  Your value according to God is THE BLOOD OF JESUS and more than the ENTIRE WORLD.

So, instead of allowing yourself to focus on what you do not have, focus on what He has offered!  Instead of allowing the devil to turn all your thoughts inward and revel in self-pity or allow a woe-is-me attitude to prevail, consider what God has provided via the Cross.  You, according to the Bible, are worth the blood of Jesus!  If God loves you that much how can you not turn to Him?

            May God be with you as you go through your day!

 

 

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IN THE SHADOWS OR CASTING THE SHADOW….


Spiritual Blog - Shadows

Psalms 91:1 – “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”  NASU

I do not mean to disparage E.J. Rollings old gospel song, “Standing Somewhere in the Shadows.”  But I do believe that it begs the question, “Is Jesus in the shadows or is He casting the shadow?”  The song has some tremendous words and meaning and when we come to the chorus we find:

 

“Standing somewhere in the shadows you’ll find Jesus,

                        He’s the Friend who always cares and understands.

                        Standing somewhere in the shadows you will find Him,

                        And you’ll know Him by the nail prints in His hands.”

             Truly, Jesus is the friend who always cares and understands and the one who paid the supreme sacrifice on the Cross for our salvation.  Yet, too often people are looking for Him in the shadows when He is the one casting the shadow and instead of drifting into the shadows to find Him we should realize as Psalms 91 declares that we ‘abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’  He is the one causing the shadow.

I think I understand E.J. Rollings intent and it is good but I wonder how many misinterpret the song and life with an image of our Lord as being somewhere just out of sight and reach when He is the brightness of the noonday sun and His presence casts a long shadow over us.  In that closeness to Him, we are safe and secure knowing that His outstretched arm affords us protection.  His presence affords us peace.  His nearness testifies of His greatness and as we walk near Him all fear is banished from our hearts.

So instead of looking for Jesus in the ‘shadows’ realize that He is ‘casting the shadow’ and He is so near that we can reach out and touch Him.  He walks beside us.  He walks in us.  He is nearer than our breath and in that presence, all shadows are banished and all fear is repelled.  Know that if we ‘call’ He will ‘answer.’  Know that He will ‘never’ leave us ‘nor’ forsake us.  Know that His promises are ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen.’  Know that you cannot walk without Jesus.  Know that you cannot escape His presence for as the Psalmist said, “If I ascend to the heavens or make my bed in hell YOU ARE THERE!”

May the nearness of God be so real to you today that you develop a new and renewed confidence and boldness!  God bless you as you go through your day!

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BORN TO BE DIFFERENT….


Spiritual Blog - Different

Matthew 5:13-16 – “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  NKJV

             I realize that Paul appealed to the Church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1:10 that they ‘all speak the same thing, be without division, and joined in the same mind and judgment.’  However, that does not negate the truth that we were all BORN TO BE DIFFERENT.  None of us are the same, each of us is unique and each has a particular purpose in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus said if salt loses its ability to ‘season’ it has no purpose.  He said that a light that does not ‘illuminate’ has no purpose.  Likewise, a voice that is ‘not heard’ or ‘does not cry out’ has no purpose.  We become like trees in the orchard that produce no fruit and after time we are only taking up space, space that a fruit-bearing tree could occupy.

You do not have to preach in a pulpit or have some spellbinding testimony to be a witness for the Lord.  You are ‘salt’ and ‘light’ and you can impact the world that you live in and you should.  Your presence should bring ‘seasoning’ to your environment and impact lives.  I knew a man that never preached a sermon, never did any great exploits, never accomplished great feats but at his funeral, there were scores of people from what many would call the ‘other side of the tracks’ at his service and one after the other echoed their eternal gratefulness for this man.  He had impacted their lives simply by his life!  He lived before them more than he said to them the gospel.  They testified that it was his compassion and consistency that slowly broke down the walls of resistance they had built up in their lives.  It was his example simply being ‘salt’ and ‘light’ that drew them into the Kingdom.  He never tooted his horn or proclaimed what he was doing HE JUST DID IT. 

I have had the privilege of preaching to large and small crowds and that has been a thrill to be so used of God but the most important thing is not how much or how often I have preached but how I have lived.  How has my life impacted others?  How has my example been seen by others?  I pray to God that my life has been ‘salt’ and ‘light’ for those that I have influenced through the years.  I pray that I have touched some for the good of the gospel.

Do not think that you have to be a great orator or have a large following or platform from which to speak simply LIVE THE LIFE and allow your life to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in this present world.

             God bless you as you go through your day!

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HOW MUCH AM I TO LOVE YOU?


Spiritual Blog - Love of God

Mark 12:31 – “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” NASU

             It is very interesting to me that the Greek word used here for ‘love’ is (agapao) which comes from a word that means ‘much’ and can be seen in contrast to (phileo) or brotherly love.  It is a deeper love than just a casual social appreciation of someone.  It was not (storge) which is a fondness through familiarity or (philia) which is friendship or (eros) the romantic attraction but (agape) which is an unconditional love or a God-kind of love.

That being said, if everyone were to take this passage literal from a personal viewpoint of how they regard themselves the world would be in a world of hurt because some people have anything but LOVE for themselves and then others have nothing but LOVE for themselves.  Some have an unhealthy un-love for others and some have an unhealthy love for themselves and to love others as they love themselves would be dangerous and difficult.  Yet, if we are ‘in Christ’ and His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and we do not think higher of ourselves than we should then we can love others in a wholesome and balance way that produces a beautiful interaction and relationship.

If we view others through the eyes of the Spirit of God and realize that they are creations of the Father and follow what is called the Golden Rule and truly react and respond to others like we would desire to be treated we will find more peace than turmoil in our relationships.  It is when we attempt to ‘love’ others without first coming to grips with ‘who we are’ and having the ‘who and whose we are’ settled in Christ we have difficulty.  I have heard people say all my life, “You have to look out for old number one” to justify whatever it was that they did and the way they treated or took advantage of others.  That is not ‘loving your neighbor as yourself’ that is disregarding your neighbor for yourself.  It is contrary to what Jesus called the 2nd Great Commandment of God.  If we get the 1st one right the 2nd one is easy but until we get the 1st one right the 2nd one is almost impossible.

I cannot love you on an equal plane with myself if I have not first learned to be comfortable with ’who I am in God.’  It is only as I find myself in God and know that I can trust Him can I make myself vulnerable and ‘love you’ as I do myself.  The self-defense part of our natures prevents that and it is only as we move from the ‘survival mode’ to a life hidden with Christ in God that we can move out of our inner sanctuary of self-protection and LOVE biblically.

            May God be with you as you go through this day!

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THE RESULT OF TRYING TO DETHRONE GOD….


Spiritual Blog - Rebellion

Genesis 11:1-9 – “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.”  NASU

 

This ideology or desire on the part of man was not new to Nimrod and the people in Babel it actually began in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.  However, it goes farther back as Isaiah identifies, it reaches back to when Lucifer, one of God’s Arch-angels, and rebelled against THE MOST HIGH.  He rebelled and convinced one-third of the angelic creation to go along with him in attempting to ‘dethrone’ God.  He convinced Adam and Eve that God was hiding something good from them and that if they ‘voted God out of office’ and became the center of their universes all would be wonderful.  It cost them the Garden and introduced death to the race.  Here in Babel the attempt to virtually ‘dethrone’ God and elevate man to a place that God will never allow brought about the inability to communicate, the various languages, and ethnicities that were scattered across the globe.  It has been the source of incredible confrontations and complications in man’s ability to live with man on planet earth.

Sadly, on a smaller scale, many do the same thing in their personal lives by ‘ignoring’ the clear directives of both the Word of God and the Spirit of God.  We refuse to ‘forgive’ and thereby close the door to forgiveness for ourselves, alienate another human being who could be useful in our journey, and bring injury to them and our ‘bitterness’ that results in others being defiled and their spirits marred.  I fully believe that God is sovereign but that does not negate His directive for me to ‘go into all the world and preach the gospel’ trying to bring the Good News to everyone so that none be lost.  Sadly, we have difficulty to communicate not just because of differences in spoken languages or dialects but in differences of beliefs we do not all speak the same language either naturally or spiritually.

I have found in my opportunities to minister around this nation and world that when I carefully ensure that God is supreme in my heart, mind, life, and thinking He has used some unique ways to help me communicate to others. God’s Love is a language that is universally understood even when our words are not.  The Spirit’s drawing power is universally felt even when our words fall short of explanation.  It is when we allow something to ‘dethrone’ God in our lives that we find the confusion setting in and in that state we are unable to communicate and cooperate with our fellow human travelers through this thing we call life.

            May God be with you as you go through your day!

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JESUS, LIFE, and the POLITICAL….


Spiritual Blog - Jesus is Lord

Matthew 4:4 – “…”It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'”  NASU

Did our Lord have anything to say on political matters during His time on earth?  That depends on whether you read His teachings for specific direct quotations regarding political matters or His implied statements in what He taught.

An example would be on ‘fair wages’.   In Matthew 20 our Lord told of the conscientious vineyard owner who was concerned about his crops being harvested and hiring idle laborers.  He, at different times of the day, went to the marketplace and hired laborers.  Then at the end of the day he took those he had hired last and paid them but when he came to those who had worked the full day he paid them the same amount and they were furious shouting and murmuring ‘unfair’ or in today’s world they would be calling for ‘wage and salary’ laws to be mandated to any employer.  Notice what Jesus said that the business owner said, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own?  Or is your eye envious because I am generous?” (v.15) Our Lord was, by telling this story implying that it is the right and privilege of the laborer and the employer to come to an agreement as to wages and no outside entity should legislate differently.

The Bible speaks about caring for the ‘poor’, the ‘widows’, and ‘orphans’ as well as giving a clear directive regarding ‘laziness’ and ‘idleness’.  Therefore, indirectly and directly He speaks of the ‘entitlement world’ and gives a biblical directive on how we should operate regarding those in our family and communities.  He did not mention nor did any of the New Testament writers a ‘government program’ of welfare but a personal and community one.  Jesus spoke of unjust weights and measures speaking of unjust trade and there was a prescription for each of those and it always came back to the church, the community, and the individual to police.

Jesus did say to Peter regarding the taxes that were mandated, “Render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and to God that which belongs to God.”  We are told to ‘pray’ for those that rule over us.  Yet, our Bible speaks to every aspect of life and teaches that our lives should not and cannot be regulated or legislated into holiness or morality.  That is a matter of the heart not a matter of some man-made law.  Of course, we need laws and yes mankind is morally bankrupt enough that we cannot be a ‘law unto ourselves’ with regard to life and property.  But with regard to how we earn our livings, care for the needy, and do business we have a guidebook that is impeccable and if followed by individuals and the Church our world will dramatically turn from the present path of decadence and depravity toward a godly way.

So, before you adamantly proclaim that Jesus was never involved in politics you might want to read what He taught and realize that He dealt with life and politics is part of life.  I trust what Jesus said not what man thinks about what He said.  The Bible teaches and I believe that the most important is the eternal not the temporal.  The Bible, if followed will affect every dimension of life, including the political for the political affects life.  Jesus came that we might have LIFE and that life be abundant.  Abundance is not in what is possessed in the natural but what we have in our spirits.  We are in this world in the flesh but not of it in the spirit.  That means we must deal with everything that affects our lives in the here and now and maintain our relationship with our Creator preparing ourselves for our Eternal Destiny.

            May God be with you as you go through your day!

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