I started out the topic of “Who Initiates” to explore who is supposed to take the lead in making changes in our lives, in the lives of those we love or in the life of our nation…..us or God?  For too long the church has been listening to the voices that say that “Whatever Happens” is God’s will because he is sovereign.

I am always amazed when I learn that todays Christians hardly ever read from the Old Testament, other than the books of Psalms or Proverbs. There is such a wealth of information about how and why God moved in individuals and groups of people, not to mention the nation of Israel. There is a reason why the Old Testament is so much larger than the New Testament. One reason is that it can guide us in our own personal walk because it gives us a detailed history of people’s lives.

This subject matter of “Thinking & Doing” with regards to evil is incredibly important. So much of modern Christianity and teaching revolves around our feelings and well being rather than biblical truth.  The subject of evil seems to only be addressed with regards to how it affects us personally and not how it affects God and others. My desire for this series of articles is to stir true believers to have a balanced life with regards to living in this broken world. If you have not read the first eight articles please do so before proceeding with this final one.

I read two articles recently about two very different Christian leaders. Both are high-profile men who speak to thousands of people daily yet they are so different in both their personal lives and their weaknesses. They both have learned to live with these weakness, one by covering it up and the other by confessing and leveraging it. They both are respected throughout the body of Christ and you would recognize their names. They are responsible for thousands of people in ministries as well as millions of dollars worth of assets. Now, I’m not so impressed with people who have such influence until I discover what’s going on behind the scenes and whether their ministry and personal lives are honest reflections of themselves as genuine followers of Christ.

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone and I hope it brought joy to your family.  I wonder, though, if we are more full of turkey or more full of realizing how blessed we are to know God as our Heavenly Father and Jesus our Savior? The freedoms we enjoy living with in America are amazing but our consumer culture always seems to leave us wanting more.  If we are more thankful, shouldn’t we consider reaching out to people with the love of God these next few weeks before Christmas? If God loves the whole world as the book of John 3:16 states, shouldn’t we have a deep concern for the world that Christ died for?

As we approach the holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is very easy to get caught up in the busyness that comes with this time of year. It is easy to lose focus and fail to be really thankful for all of the blessings that God has brought into our lives. Ironically, we can become ungrateful due to all the preparations and responsibilities that the holidays can bring.  

I started this series, “What Kind of Christian Are You?”, because I think many Christians believe that God has a very loose standard regarding who he embraces as his adopted child.  I believe God has a greater standard and greater aspirations for us!

In my last article I posed the question, “Are we saints or sinners?”. My point was that the apostle Paul in particular taught that prior to coming to Christ for redemption we were sinners who habitually lived for ourselves at God’s expense.   However, after coming to Christ and being forgiven of our sins we are “Classified” by God as saints, not because we are now perfect but because we keep “Short Accounts” and refuse to live as we once did.  It is all about transformation!

As more and more of us are living in cities and suburbia, we move farther and farther from an understanding of the basic principle of “Sowing & Reaping” that people in farming communities understand. When we see so much of what man can do, from the cars we drive to the grocery stores we shop in, it becomes harder and harder to believe in a God who created the world we live in.  We even have a way of getting around the effects of the seasons and thus feel we are in control.  We may control some natural things but not the deep things of the soul. If it’s hot, we turn the air conditioning on. If it’s cold, we turn the heat on. For the children who grow up with such controlled environments, is it any wonder that coming to faith in a God who created all things is very difficult?  To believe God has the ability to lead us is not only difficult but often feels like salmon swimming up stream against raging waters. If we make it to the faith we often feel beat up and battered by all the arguments of our inner soul and the secular world.

When I grew up I lived in a mixed rural/city environment. The city had about 30,000 residents yet we lived more closely connected to the earth. My grandfather was a man who grew the most delicious food.  I often would pick string beans from the garden and go sit in the school yard eating the sweet fruit of his labor. Today, I don’t like string beans because they are picked early to accommodate the long trip to market. Because they are picked early they aren’t sweet like when I was a kid.

Furniture is another example. When I was a kid there was no particleboard furniture, only solid wood. The difference in the quality of furniture is truly amazing. For kids growing up today, they probably will never know solid wood furniture unless their parents have good paying jobs.  It is sad that we live in a disposable generation that struggles to find fulfillment and struggles believing God even exists, let alone cares for them.

If people are fortunate enough to have been exposed to people of faith, who have experienced what it truly means to trust God for everything, they are blessed. But all too often we experience believers that believe in a creator but rarely put their trust in Him for their purpose of life and their daily needs.  Many people who claim to know Christ and His redeeming grace live a natural life with just enough scripture in their soul to motivate themselves to go to church some Sundays.  However, they live like God is no where to be found the others six days of the week. Jesus spoke to people who were steeped in religious form without a true living relationship with God. When Jesus pointed out this inconsistency to people who called themselves children of God, the Jews, they became so hate filled that they crucified Jesus.

John 15:1-2                                                                                                                                                                                          

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ²“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branchthat bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

I traveled to Denver, Colorado to celebrate a life of a true believer who not only got saved from his selfish life but embarked on a journey of faith that many would be jealous to have. He has lived such a life that this week I had the privilege of participating in a celebration of his life and the passing of his ministry authority to a younger man. He is extraordinary because he carved out a ministry to the nations out of nothing in order to become a world changer. He then, at the peek of growth and success, handed this ministry over to a younger man but intends to work alongside him to continue the ministries effectiveness.  He is truly godly character that doesn’t seek applause but rather encourages others to love God and people passionately.

In order to end up living a life of fruitfulness like this man you have to first trust God more than yourself and then apply that ideology of trust into practical living. You have to be a person that sees beyond the man made and sees what God has done and is doing in the earth.

In the book of Genesis there were two brothers. Both worked their talents and produced from their labors. The difference was who they did their labors for.

Genesis 4:1-3                                                                                                                                                                             

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help ofthe LORD.” ²Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. ³So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.

God provided so many illustrations of people and their good and bad choices. Our lives produce good or bad based on what our motives are, no matter what they may look like on the surface. You would think we would be smarter and wiser after reading scripture yet we often make the same mistake as Cain did.

Genesis 4:4-8                                                                                                                                                                            

Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; ⁵but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. ⁶Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷“If you do well, will not your countenancebe lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” ⁸Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Here is the point in all this. The motive of our hearts makes all the difference in the world. Trusting God may look genuine on the surface but God is never satisfied with surface relationship or obedience. He is looking for the individuals that trust from the depths of their souls and thus live out of the will of God and not the will of our own soul.  Self-centeredness can look very religious at times but later in life the truth will become manifest.

Show me someone that loves to build others up and is not interested in taking credit for their fruitfulness and I will show you a person that God will honor both in this life and the life to come.

Questions:

1) Do you see God in your life or only what can be done naturally? If the latter, ask God to take the blinders off you.

2) Is your life reflecting the heart of Abel or Cain? The difference comes from motive and relationship – your choice.

May God open our eyes to what a truly fruitful life should look like and give us the power to live it accordingly.

Pastor Dale

This is the last in the series on meditation and I wanted to close on the goal and skill by which healthy Christians should pursue biblical meditation. If you haven’t read the first four articles please do so before reading this final part as much of the first four deal with the wrong way to meditate, which is linked to eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism.

Whereas Easter meditation focuses on achieving serenity and tranquility through emptying yourself, Christian meditation involves pursuing understanding, not emptying one’s mind. Judaism has made use of meditative practices for thousands of years, although the idea of gaining greater intimacy with God has become somewhat obscure in this day and age.  The search for the law and its detailed meaning has become the central practice, rather than a deeper relationship with the creator. For Islam, the purpose of meditation is incorporated in the practice of Salah, a mandatory act of devotion performed by Muslims five times per day. The practice is focused on sets of different postures meant to reinforce respect and beliefs, rather than opening up to God’s voice for greater intimacy.

Many times Jesus would say while teaching the crowds, “He who has an ear let him hear” which translates to, “You have to listen carefully to gain greater depth of understanding.”  The writings of King David in the psalms and King Solomon are packed with the idea of gained knowledge for the purpose of great intimacy. David speaks much about witnessing in nature God’s hand and realizing God is speaking daily through it. This great insight into nature’s purpose helped David not only respect and love God more, but also opened for him a doorway into the greater presence of God.  David understood that God will reveal himself generally through nature, but one must move into greater respect and faith in order to avail themselves of knowing God better. Listed below are just a few passages of such insight.

Psalms 19:1-3                                                                                                                                                          

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to-day pours forth speech, and night to-night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard.

Psalms 119:14-16                                                                                                                                                    

I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.  I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.  Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.

David understood that the entrance to great intimacy with God was first observing what the creation is revealing about the creator. This moves him to solicit God directly for greater revelation that must come from God who holds key information about himself and the creation, which includes humanity’s purpose. Interestingly, the writer of the Book of Hebrews speaks directly about this transition from general knowledge to greater intimacy in chapter 11.

Hebrews 11:1-3                                                                                                                                                      

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.  By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

There is an element of faith, which is practical trust, that God requires individuals to exercise to move from general knowledge of God to personal knowledge. This awareness of God’s conditions for greater intimacy is gained when an individual opens their soul to the spirit of God with the information at hand.  We all in our own way came to a saving knowledge of God by steps. We heard a testimony from someone and we opened our minds and souls to consider a creator who might be willing to care and love us as a person. That openness is the beginning of faith.

Hebrews 11:4-6

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarded of those who seek Him. 

God has certain standards by which he reveals himself and as we discover those standards we move closer and closer to him. King Solomon asked God for wisdom in becoming king and that wisdom was a doorway into greater intimacy. The key is to use the knowledge we gain from our own transparency so that God reveals himself in a more transparent way. If we start living contrary to what we have learned, like Solomon, God shuts down his intimacy and we are on our own again.

Proverbs 3:32                                                                                                                                                         

For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; but He is intimate with the upright.

Listening is what mediation is all about. We choose to invest time in pursuing greater awareness and understanding to engage in greater intimacy with our creator. When Jesus told parables he was revealing truth in stories that could be taken at face value or could be a doorway to greater truth. His objective was to hide deeper meaning from those who didn’t want to learn to change, including those who were more interested surface truth instead of transformative truth.  If you listen to God and truth passively, God will stay in the shadows.

One of the hardest things for people to do in life is to develop an ability and skill in listening. We hear others speak but often misunderstand the content and true meaning of the person trying to communicate. God has the same problem with us. He speaks but we only casually listen, which causes misunderstanding.  Only those who choose to meditate on scripture regularly will gain a deeper perspective of the nature and character of God.  Our Heavenly Father reveals himself deeply to them.  Effective listening requires concentration and the use of all of our senses. David understood and applied himself to not only learning about God and his creation but to honoring the Lord. He discovered the presence of God in such a unique way that even today we long for the kind of experience he had with the Almighty.

Psalms 31:19-20                                                                                                                                                 

How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You,  Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of men! You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;              You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

Questions:

1) Do you desire greater intimacy with God? Only through the learned habit and skill of meditation will you discover the depths of God.

2) Do you desire to learn from others what they have experienced with biblical meditation? Start reading books about men and women who have developed a meditative lifestyle.

May the Holy Spirit of God invade our souls daily so that we might discover more about our Heavenly Father.

Pastor Dale