Will a Man Rob God?

How many of us know that passage? Yep, you know it--the good ole Malachi 3:8. Many a sermon has included this scripture to guilt people into giving. I've heard a few of those myself. Tied to this, was the "look at what all Jesus has done for you, couldn't you at least pay your tithes like you should? He only asks for 10%." and so it goes.

Be still, my pen

Thank you, Lord, for stilling my pen.

Interesting how God works. I had another post halfway finished before a quick thunderstorm shut down the power in the entire northern part of our county for a couple of hours.

Don't worry--you didn't miss anything.

Open my heart, Lord

During our weekly Bible Study, we were reading II Corinthians 6 where Paul is imploring the Saints at Corinth to open their hearts towards Paul and his companions:

 ¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. ¹²We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. ¹³As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

Faith, Hope, and Love... the greatest is Love.

I remember, back in the days of legalism, I had tons of scripture memorized, and would always plug a certain scripture in to combat a certain situation. Of course, nine times out of ten, these scriptures wouldn't 'work' and were simply a formula to solve a problem. When God just basically baptized my whole being into His body... His grace--over 90% of those memorized verses just flew out the window.

That's it. I quit.

.... and upon these statements, I can hear the door slam shut in my mind. To be honest, I'm quite content in my decision. Actually it's been the decision that God has been asking me to make for a long while now. Oh, I'd give lip service to "let go and let God"... or maybe sing the song, "God is in control". But really? It was me who wanted to be in control; me who wanted to be doing the doing. Of course, my results were somewhat akin to scaling a greased flag pole. Never even made it off the ground. Or at best, my decision would wreck havoc in the lives of those I cared about.

You pop the popcorn, and I'll start the movie, angels...

.... no, not really. Sadly though, many people are taught that that's exactly what Hebrews 4:13 is referring to: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. This was the verse used for so many years by religious leaders to guilt me into behaving. "Just think.. you stand before God on that judgement day, and allllll your sins will be on display for all to see. How will you feel then??" Hogwash.

Time to erase the chalkboard

.....of pretty much everything I knew, or thought I knew about what God expects from me. In the religious walk of my past, I've heard bits and pieces of truth and/or error from several well meaning people. Time to erase it all: The good, the bad, the ugly.

Do Bee Do Wop Bop Bop-a-Lu-La!

.....is what comes to mind when I read Romans 7: 19-25--¹⁹For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

 ²¹So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God's law; ²³but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

God is NOT DEALING WITH US ON A SIN ISSUE..

...was the comment from the previous blog. So what, then? So we're forgiven and that's all?  No...it is important to understand the sin issue, but being forgiven is not the end of it. While mankind did need to be forgiven, we need something much more: Life. Not temporary life, but eternal life.

"One of the most dangerous doctrines in Christendom is once saved always saved...

.....because it lures a person into a false sense of security" is a quote taken directly from a teaching of the pulpit. When reading this, a big old sigh escaped from my lips. So much error. So, let me get this straight, trusting in Jesus is a form of false security? The entire basis of this person's teaching was that God is still holding our sins against us. That cannot be farther from the truth. This came from the lips of someone who professed to believe in God, and holds that Jesus is the son of God.

I think I see our exit up ahead... get ready to turn...

Almost. We've been traveling for miles and miles it seems. I didn't think we'd EVER get there! Where are we going? To eternity. To be honest, I've not thought of heaven in a while, until just here recently. You see, for years, that's all I thought about, "When I get to heaven, I'll_____________" then fill in the blanks with what we'll do, who we'll see, what we'll hear... whatever your pleasure. The problem was that, was that I was so focused on 'then', that I was totally blowing 'now' off. I wasn't loving my family and friends--had no time--I was trying to see heaven up ahead, and try as I might.. I just couldn't.

Feelings or Faith?

I suppose we've all been there, done that. So many times, my belief system has been driven by my feelings, or emotions, rather than on truth. I have worked myself up in a tizzy, thinking the worse case scenario of my children. You too? When they're late coming home, do you envision all sorts of tragic things that might've have happened? Only to breathe a sigh of relief when they come strolling through the door sometime later, complaining about the traffic? Truth was, the traffic was horrendous. Emotions didn't go in that direction, though.

The Elijah complex

The ending of today's broadcast brought a smile to my face. The show host was laughingly confessing to having the Elijah complex near the end of his "What's it all about?" journey away from the law.

What's the Elijah complex? Glad you asked.

Rise and be healed--no thanks, I'm fine.

Funny isn't it? For once in my life, it's okay by me to be hearing impaired. Thinking back into the throes of yesteryear, I recall service after service being annointed with oil, having the elders pray for my healing, only to go into the hospital for surgery right on cue. As usual, this operation didn't work either. I've lost count of how many operations I've had on my ears in hopes of restoring my hearing to at least almost normal. It seemed other people around me were receiving their miracles from God. Where was mine? Shame engulfed me as ministers would quote, "According to your faith, be healed!" Apparently I didn't have enough faith.

What happens to Christians who wander out in left field?

 Today's broadcast was an interesting one. Timely, too. Our group of friends have been casually discussing some of the erroneous teachings we're hearing. The most recent discussion was of the one where a Christian can go to hell if, in the last few breaths of his life, his spiritual state is that of sin. According to a particular teaching, there is no guarantee of eternal security, until we get there, that is--if we get there.