The truth of God’s message, the gospel of salvation and all its promises is out there. Somewhere out there, are the faithful, the righteous people of God, those who have not compromised their faith to gain the things of the world. The church, those who stand to speak, to teach and spread the message of salvation, everyone today, is selling a lot half- truths, more than a handful of redemption stories, a lot of Christian cliches, tons of positive affirmations, hundreds of promises of financial blessings, lots of watered down preaching, but somewhere in the mix is God’s truth. Or maybe, the truth is right next door, or on the street corner where you last saw that torn and tattered homeless man asking for a handout. Did you tell him to get a job?
The Scriptures are living words from a living God. When men interpret the Scriptures, they use their biases, and prejudices to spin it to fit their beliefs. With each interpretation Scripture can take on different meaning. My husband uses a Bible published by a well known pastor. He was reading a passage from Ezekiel and he was shocked by the language saying it was rather suggestive. I read my version but it did not read the same. When I read it to him, he agreed that it did not create in his mind, the same image as his. That’s what modern-day interpreters do. The idea is to get readers to understand scripture by creating mental images of spiritual truths, which is good, but this tends to water down scripture, to much, opening the door to false teachings.
It takes spiritual discernment, and wisdom to live for Christ in a world full of temptatious lusts, and imitation fruit. Stealing, stretching the truth, lying by omission, manipulating situations, and people, cheating, lying, hate and greed, self-promotion, one or two, or all these actions, seem innocent enough for most Americans. My ex once told me that a family member told him, a Christian mind you, that if he was not happy in his marriage, it was ok to seek happiness elsewhere. This was right before our marriage ended. And the reason it ended. Christian spouses cannot go around seeking happiness elsewhere. No. No. No. God’s children are not most people. God works in our life, but He is working His will, everywhere. He creates change in us, first, otherwise, how can His children be His righteousness, if we are no different than the world? The Lord is gracious in dealing with us, the wretched people that we are. To become like Christ, to be transformed into His image, and to be able to love as He loves – takes a refiner’s fire to accomplish the transformation. It’s not melodramatic. Jesus did not come to earth prepared to battle Rome, or Egypt. Think about that. He came to expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He came to bring the message of God and to fulfill prophesy, first to His people, then the rest.
These days, I hear it often. Those liberal minded Christians, and politicians are destroying this nation. I do not believe it. Liberal mindsets are not the problem. An equal but separate society was not solely the creation of one party. The fall of man did not just happen because the woman was disobedient. Nor did God curse only the woman. My faith does not fail me, because there is only evil in the world. I do not expect a fallen world to embrace the things of a holy God. The only people who feel threatened and fearful and have a need to take back control of “whatever they feel has been lost” probably point the finger at only one person, one group, etc.
The heart of man is continually evil (Genesis 6:5).
“‘…they have pierced My hands and feet…’ this, to me, is a most significant details. The hands of Jesus — the hands thru which His healing power so lavishly flowed, the hands with which He broke the few loaves and fed the masses, the hands He lifted in praise and put to service were stretched and pinned to a cross that keeps them from the work they were so prone to. And Jesus’ feet — the feet that carried Him from Galilee to Judea, the feet that won the support of an angry sea and received the fragrance of a woman’s praise, were immobilized — nailed helplessly against the wood. For that moment, Jesus could not extend His hands for healing or move His feet to serve. He hung helpless, stuck to the sinfulness of mankind by the wrath of God. This, of course, is not where it ends, but in our preoccupation with the glory of ressurection, we often glib over or totally ignore the key that opens the door to that abundancy of life — death. Like the Jewish leaders that Jesus denounced, we equate success with life within God’s will. To do this, friends, is to empty the cross of its meaning and to replace the true glory of Christ’s character of servitude with the glitter of cinematic heroism.” — Rich Mullins [“Meat,” Pretty Feet Publications, Vol 1, No 4, Zion Ministries] #richmullins
Be blessed.
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