Show Me

Do your kids ever ask you, “where are we going?”

I bet they do, and I bet you tell them.

Next time, don’t.

Say “I’ll show you.” I think I’m going to start that with my boys today. It will be good for them, spiritually.

We are just like little kids. We really do have “little faith” you know. We want to know everything before we do anything. We want to be able to weigh the pros and cons to see if the outcome is worth the trip. And often, we decide before we take the first step if we will bother making the journey.

Well, unless you are an Old Testament prophet – which you are not – God will most likely not ever show you where you are going. Oswald Chambers even said, "Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you." He’s just not into the personal fortune-telling thing.

And before you argue, go read your Bible; God is doing us a great big ole favor in this. When he did tell the Old Testament prophets where to go and what to do, he often told them how horrible it would be, and how useless their warnings would be. Now, how would you like to know that before you moved – and still be expected to obey? Well, don’t worry. God isn’t going to roll out His full plan for your life for your personal approval (and we should be thankful for that) because we would surely make a mess of it. We can only handle little bits at a time.

And that’s just it, he moves us a little at a time – by faith. We all know about Abraham. He “obeyed and went even though he did not where he was going.” (Heb 11:8) He didn’t say, “LORD, show me where you want me to go.”

But that’s what we do. When we pray, we ask (tell) God to show us things, reveal things to us, give us this peace or that wisdom on this decision – and in reality, if we are honest, many times we are praying in the flesh because we have “little faith”; we are afraid of what we do not know or understand.

Instead we should pray, “help me overcome my unbelief!”

We should pray, “Increase our faith!”

It is an easy thing to sit in your chair, or lay in your bed at night, and ask God to show you where He’s taking you or what He’s going to do. It requires, and is indicative of “little faith”. That should raise some red flags. We should recognize that as praying in the flesh. Where in the Lord’s Prayer does Jesus teach us to tell God to show us the future?

We would be better off asking Him to show us --- Us. We’d be better off to ask Him to help us to really see our “little faith” so that we may truly and sincerely desire to follow and obey Jesus – and remain in him – rather than be consumed with what will happen next.

Besides, when you take time to think about it, where you’re going is really inconsequential. You can’t get there without the very air you breath.

And WHO made that?

Christianity, Persecution, Blessing

The persecution of Christianity in its simplest terms, historically and worldwide, can be outlined progressively:

               1. Social Persecution
               2. Legal Persecution
               3. Violent Persecution

Graphic from
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/publiccatholic/2013/03/degrees-of-christian-persecution-where-does-america-fit/

Where are we in America?

Social persecution of Christianity is commonplace – even fashionable. Disapproval, insults, hatred, ridicule and criticism. By and large, the media will not tolerate any expression of Christianity.

We have been wading into the waters of Legal persecution of Christianity for years. How many court cases have targeted or successfully hampered the free expression of Christianity? The Gospel of Peace is now officially “hate speech”.

At least we haven’t experienced Violent persecution yet . . . or have we? Take some time and see for yourself. It’s buried, but it’s there. In this country there have been an increasing number of violent crimes and murders against Christians for no other reason other than their faith. But if Social persecution already exists, which it does, you can expect the media to avoid such stories like the Plague.

Whether you are a Christian or not, you need to know how this relationship works. Numbers of people are really inconsequential. Temperature is what matters. The spiritual temperature of Christianity is almost always directly proportional to the degree of persecution.

CHRISTIANS! Have you ever noticed that the capstone of Jesus’ Beatitudes is this:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Everyone wants a blessing, but they won’t take what the Lord gives. Stop fighting and arguing with those whose understanding is darkened. Stop useless boycotts with no power behind them. Stop feeding your natural desire to get even and win and stand up for your rights. Stop wasting your life.

READ THE WORD.

DO WHAT IT SAYS.

GET READY.

-isms

“Ism’s, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an ‘ism,’

he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: ‘I don't believe in Beatles.

I just believe in me.’ A good point there.”

~ Ferris Bueller

This comes from one of the greatest movie monologues of all time: the “How to Fake Out Parents and Avoid School” discourse from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Now, I don’t take much stock in anything John Lennon believed in, but I’ve always been in one accord with him and Ferris on their stance on isms. I’m not an ism guy.

First let me clarify something. I’m against a certain kind of isms, not words spelled with i-s-m. For example, prisms are nice. Once upon a time, I gave my wife one in the form of a diamond engagement ring. Schisms, well, maybe that’s not the best example, but I’m sure if you do your homework you’ll see that some good has come of them.

So what is an ism? Well, a definition might be best. Have a look.

***Actually, –ism (suffix) and ism (noun) are two different things. Feast your eyes.

The latter is the one that Bueller, Lennon, and me believe is not good, but I’m coming at it with a Christian worldview. Now you might say, “What about Calvinism or Arminianism? You must believe in one or the other if you are a good Christian.” My answer is this: Ism’s, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an ism. Before you burn me in effigy, hear me.

The Bible is the revelation of God to people, and a great deal of it requires that you have the Holy Spirit residing in you to understand it. That means anyone, given they are regenerated, can understand anything the Bible has to say by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. No degree necessary.

On the other hand, Christian isms are the constructs of men to simplify the Bible. They sum it up, and make things nice and neat. They are meant for good – to teach sound doctrine. But the unregenerate are capable of fully understanding these systems and arguing them until they are blue in the face every bit as much as a Christian is. It turns what God gave us into something man made. 

It’s like this: God gave us what we are supposed to know about him in a treasure chest called the Bible. It takes effort to get to know him. Then smart men simplified the treasure chest down into a basket – but they came up with different looking baskets. The problem is that you have believers looking in one basket or another for treasure, and that’s not what God intended. He gave us the treasure chest. I'll say it again. A person should not believe in an ism.

A person should believe THE WORD. No matter what this person or that person says, you don’t need an ism. You'll be just fine without an ism. Generally speaking, the -ists are usually the ones pushing their isms anyway. They will argue it will keep you from heresy. Hogwash. Heresy from believing the other guy's ism maybe. I’ll take the guidance of the Holy Spirit over an ism any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

To sum it up, isms, in my opinion, are not good. Leave the isms to the ists, and bury your nose in The Word. Let the Holy Spirit teach you. God gave you a treasure chest. Don’t settle for a basket. 

The Ten Commandments of Bible Buying

The first Bible I ever bought - and yes, that is duct tape. I broke several Bible-buying commandments on this one, but the LORD was with me. It has served me well. I still use it, although it stays on the desk now due to its condition. I have bought many Bibles since this one, but this was the best. I can still close my eyes and remember where certain verses are positioned on pages in this Bible, even though I have carried many others. I will always keep this book.

I used to think there was a “perfect” Bible out there. Before you get your theological panties in a wad, what I mean by that is, version, style, features, etc. I’ve bought lots of Bibles looking for just the right one, and unwittingly, broken every Bible buying commandment possible. So, save yourself some money and mental anguish, practice a little self-disciple and patience, and you’ll get it right the very first time. Here’s a little guide on how to buy a Bible.

I.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible on a whim. “Oh, that one looks nice.” That’s never a good idea. Very high probability this one just ain’t going to be the perfect one if you’re serious about reading the Bible. Seriously, you are buying a Bible, not something of the dollar menu.

II.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible based on appearance. I drive a beat up ’93 Toyota 4Runner, but it’s reliable. Sometimes I even pass brand new cars that are broken down on the side of the road. You wouldn’t pick a spouse based on looks would you---don’t answer that. The point is, you can’t judge a book by its cover.

III.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible without doing your homework first. Think! What do you want in a Bible? Study notes? Center references? Jesus’ words in red letters? Decide what you want, then shop. There is enough variety out there these days to either completely satisfy you, or get mighty close.

IV.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible under coercion. In other words, you don’t need to feel compelled to get the one that “theology guy” tells you is “the best.” There are lots of different versions, ranging from more formal to more functional (i.e. word-for-word to thought-for-thought). “Theology guy” may have acquired a version bias, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but you may not share his views. Stores (and websites) have charts explaining the different versions, and you need to check those out before you buy.

V.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible without reading it first. There’s no excuse for not knowing if you like this book before you buy it. With their “Add Parallel” feature, BibleGateway.com makes it too easy to compare different versions to skip this step. Would you buy a car without test-driving? Isn’t God’s Word more awesome than a car? Test-drive your Bible.

I never could enjoy this Bible. I bought it when I was into study notes, and boy, it is chock full of them. The design makes reading it painful. You can clearly see the print on the pages underneath, which is very distracting. The Scripture goes into the crease, making it very difficult to read. Not only that, every handful of pages has even more notes that come halfway up the page (which you can see a hint of on the left). I should have done my homework.

VI.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible just because your pastor preaches from it. You don’t have to have the same version, even if it does make reading along a little tricky at times. It’s actually a good thing to have a different version, because you will pick up on the way the interpreters have struggled to translate a word, or verse. You will want to really dig into those, and it makes for some good study. Even better to have several different versions in a Bible study group.

VII.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible online without holding, handling, touching, and looking at the real deal. You can’t look at a thumbnail picture and know how a Bible will feel, if you can see through the pages, if its really the size of the Chinese phonebook, or if its little gilded edges are going to give you paper cuts every time you flip a page. You need to hold it, touch it, and see it. If it is what you want, then price it online… but be very, very cautious if you order. Best advice is to copy the ISBN, and all the product details you can.

VIII.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible that is not easy on the eyes. What I mean by that is how it looks when you open it up and read it. Are the words too small? Do the words from the page underneath distract you (show through)? Does the writing in Psalms go all the way into the crease so that as you lean over to read, you end up falling out of your chair and dislocating your shoulder? Remember: If it’s just a little bit aggravating to read, you won’t read it… get a Bible that has pages easy on the eyes.

IX.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible with prejudice in your heart against certain styles and versions. Believe it or not, this is especially true with styles. Some folks go looking for a specific style or version with tunnel vision. Don’t be guilty of discrimination against Bibles! Look around and see what really suits you. Step out on a limb and pick up the “old folks,” large print Bible… You might like it.

X.  Thou shalt not buy a Bible that does not satisfy your needs. Think back to the I and III commandments – don’t settle for less because you really want one today, or you will end up with buyer’s remorse over a Bible (a dreadful feeling). You’re going to want to mark this thing up with notes and highlights… If you have to buy another, you are faced with a dilemma: “Do I transfer everything into my new Bible? Do I just start over?” Trust me, it’s a lot easier to take an extra couple of days, or even weeks, and find the right one to begin with.

To wrap it up, just keep a few things in mind. This is a serious purchase… Alongside prayer it is your primary means of communication with the Father. If you plan to read it (and why wouldn’t you?), it will likely take you a year or more. If you are buying a Bible for the right reason, basically, it is to get to know what God has revealed about Himself. You aren’t trying to impress anyone with your Bible. You are the expert on the kind of Bible you need. Get the one that works for you.

Let me know how this works out for you.