The Wolves

In Matthew 10:16, it says “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”  In 2 Peter 2:1-3, the Bible declares “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.  And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.  Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

I’ve been guilty of allowing some of that to come into this blog.  In an effort to redeem what I can of the world’s focus on self-help, I sought to use H. Jackson Brown’s 21 Suggestions for Success as material to blog on and trace Biblical foundations for.  I also sought to be a teacher in it.  That would have led to some deadly consequences if I had carried through on it, because it would have started me down a path of trying to justify some lies that are insidious in their movement.  I’m stopping now, because I don’t particularly want to stand under that condemnation.  I may take bits and pieces of it and look at it in relation to some entries, but only in the capacity of reverse-engineering to see where the heresy can unfold.  I’ve tried to be cautious so far, but even in that caution I may have opened up some troubling doors.

Blessings;

Christ-bearer.

Where ‘Self-Help’ Comes From

H. Jackson Brown has suggested 21 ways by which we can achieve success in our lives. I’m going to take issue with my own use of the word ‘we’ here, but I’m also going to take a brief look at the Biblical foundation for every one of these principles over the next little while. And, I’m going to be rather vocal about the frightening roads these ways of thinking can lead you down, and why these steps need to be carefully tested and approved in application. You can find the suggestions here. And I’m not going to spend 21 posts on these things alone, but rather, I’m going to alternate between these and some insights I’ve been having over the past few dry weeks.

First, my complaint about the use of ‘we’ is that it can be taken to imply that we are the only operative parties in acting towards the fulfillment of these parts of our lives. This is patently not true, and so I preface my remarks on Brown’s suggestions with this: It’s not in ourselves that we can find the fulfillment of these things – please, make no mistake, they are valuable points to consider and they do truly offer beneficial suggestions- but in Jesus Christ, His teachings and His life. And it is by looking towards Him that we are given a proper perspective on their value.

I also want to make it clear that the tile of this post is itself a comment on what I’m trying to say. ‘Self-help’ is impossible. It’s not within our abilities to save or to sanctify ourselves, though we have every possibility of damning ourselves to Hell if we try. Neither is it possible to fulfill the righteousness within which these things fall. Biblically, Christ lived a fully righteous life and that life is what provides redemption for our own unrighteousness in arrogance and pride. So I’m going to say it plainly. I believe that ’self-help’ is arrogance beyond belief. We cannot make ourselves ‘good people’ any more than we can pull the moon out of the sky. We can’t remedy the darkness in ourselves by ourselves.

I’m not going to go into the first of the suggestions for success tonight, but I will put it up for you to think about:

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.

Blessings;

Christ-bearer.

Bearing Witness II

As I said last time, we are, every minute of every day, teaching someone something. Not necessarily in words or concepts, but certainly in character. So living in the freedom of Christ takes on a whole new weight of meaning. So does just living in Christ. If we thought about this as much as we think about, say, for example, how others are mistreating us, I’m sure we’d be unable to act on anything. Thank the Lord, then, that we don’t think about it…and then pray for His grace on the fact that we don’t think about it.

This is an important point of being authentic. What does it say about Jesus when we sin in judging, for example, or mean-spirited argument? We know what He says about it from Matthew7:1-5, to name one example:

“‘Judge not, that you be not judged. for with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother ‘let mew take the speck out of your eye’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.’”

These verses are so often taken out of context, however, and are used to condone liberal thinking.  I’m of the mind that they are, in context, a guidebook on being wary of presuming a higher standard than anyone else, which contradicts Romans 3:19-26:

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  this was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

All have sinned, and no-one is of higher value in the eyes of God than His Son, whose righteousness is our propitiation.  We are not to presume a higher standing, or act in ways that might bring glory to ourselves.  This includes comments like “I don’t think you’re giving people what they need”…as if to presume that we know any better.  I’ve been feeling very convicted on this particular point of late, for a number of reasons.

My intent in this post, then, is simple.  To get my thoughts out on a particular point of living in Christ.  I’ve got one more, I think, about bearing witness, and then who knows.

Blessings;

Christ-bearer

Resolutions

As I spin up for the new year, I want to take some time to examine a most pertinent devotion in Our Daily Bread. I was reading through the January 2 entry, and midway down caught a bit of the January 1 entry. It was a series of six resolutions of about 70 made by Jonathan Edwards, and I felt a necessity to make them my own as well. They say a lot about where I need to be focused:

* To do whatever is most to God’s glory.
* To do my duty, for the good of mankind in general.
* Never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
* To study the Scriptures steadily, constantly and frequently.
* To ask myself at the end of every day, week, month, and year if I could possibly have done better.
* Until I die, not to act as if I were my own, but entirely and altogether God’s.

These are some of them very difficult things to do, because as soon as I ask myself if I could possibly have done better, the answer will inevitably be yes. As soon as I begin to act as if I were entirely God’s, I will end up being incredibly humbled, and humbled is not where I like to be. That’s why I’ve got to go there. Because, essentially, these things are true things, and serious things. As I look at all of these things, I see the common thread of humility running through them, and I realize that it’s one of the most important things I can learn. I am a proud person, and I need to be divorced from that; these are going to help me with that.

The other thing that came to me as I was reading that devotion is the commission to read through and seek to understand the Westminster Longer Catechism, a handbook of doctrine. I may bring pieces of that in, from time to time as the year goes on, but it’s pretty heavy stuff, and not what the vast majority need to hear in the early stages of Christ’s embrace. So keep steady on as the year unfolds.

Blessings;

Christ-bearer.

The Prodigal – Independence

As I sit here musing on the story of the prodigal son, I can’t help but think of what started the whole story. One man’s foolish, headstrong little boy, anxious to be out and about in the world, asks his father to give him what will be his upon his father’s death. In other words, the son who turns his face towards the great wide and wandering life he envisions for himself is considering his father a part of his past. There’s a whole lot still to be had here, looking at it here, but it’s time for a change. I may come back to the story sometime in the new year, but this is going to be the last of the posts for a while.

As I was saying, our independent young lad sets his sights out yonder, turning his face away from his father and towards himself (You have forgotten the face of your father…sorry, Dark Tower analogy. Couldn’t resist), seeking to be free of anything that he considers to be locking him down or tying him up…even his family. Even his dear father, wanting only the best for him. I can see him stepping out the door; whistling, maybe, pockets heavy with currency that he thinks will get him everything he needs and then some. “I’m going to make something of myself” he says, “I’m going to go it alone – I have nothing left here.” And so, in all ignorance, he’s out and about, wining and dining the women, driving all the new cars and buying things left right and center. Seems like a great life.

Then there’s the famine.

He’s hungry, unemployed, broke and on the down, can’t even feed himself, hasn’t invested wisely. He thinks “Life sucks for me. I’ve spent all of my father’s money, ate and drank it away, and what have I to show for it? A beer gut and a patchy beard. I’m really not worth the ground I sit on, and I’m certainly not the man I could have been if I’d only paid attention to what I needed to learn.”

Now, the reason I’m summarizing all of this is because, as in all mistakes we make, we make them because we don’t listen to the Father’s guidance. We don’t let Him speak through His Word, we don’t let Him act in our lives to do His work, and we certainly don’t consider ourselves dependent upon Him. Sure, we may say it, but we really don’t live it. Sometimes circumstances prevent us from doing it, sometimes we feel as if we should be getting quicker answers, sometimes we figure that He’s going to bless anyway…

But that’s all just excuses.

What’s really at stake is the fact that we can’t go it alone. We can’t pay our way, we can’t feed ourselves from our own meagre portions, and we can’t, ultimately, do anything without God.

I’ve got a lot of pride to suck up to go back to my Father, and I hope that I’ll be able to start taking the steps back home to His arms come the new year.

Blessings;

Christ-bearer.

The Prodigal – Pride

It’s been days since last I posted, and I’m exhausted. Five days seems like a long haul yet, but something comes…something comes. Forgive me for not revisiting this sooner.

Humility receives the gifts of the Father. True humility, that is. ‘My son, who was dead’ comes back from the death of self. Here is the beginning. ‘My son, who was lost’ is the helpless man who cannot find his way without guidance, without the hand of the Lord. Here is the beginning.

Pride comes in many shapes, many forms. It can be overt, in arrogance, or insidious, in self-sacrifice because ‘I can’. Grumbling at grace, fighting with everything in us against mercy and generosity.

Do you know what I mean?

Selah

Jealousy is wounded pride, hurt selfishness. The brother who was faithful is not feted, as the brother who was unfaithful is. Forgiveness brings reward; abasement in contrition of heart is worthy of the Father’s greatest blessings. ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything that I have is yours’ is a gift, unheeded and unnoticed. Are you…are we…really able to dare to hope such a thing? Do we live it?

These are the elementary truths of this great story. Pride brings sorrow, grief and destruction. Hope comes in repentance and contrition, bringing nothing before the Father and coming away with everything. Imagine the face of the unworthy and once-arrogant man as he sits at his father’s right hand, as he eats of the bounty increased in his absence. Imagine the tear of joy, the single bright gem of love that trickles down his face when the bearded and haggard face of his father presses to his neck and the cries of rejoicing come muffled from a fleshless shoulder.

Selah

Blessings;

Christ-bearer.