Responding To Goodness

- God is good. Mankind isn't.
- We can respond to 'good' but we can not initiate true goodness on our own. Self preservation or gain is always in the mix.
- We can however initiate based on what we have recieved. God's Spirit leads us down a road we would not go on our own. That is the only kind of initation that does not add to the corruption we see around us.

"What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building." - 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 ESV

I have not seen this belief system anywhere else but in the Bible and it is the only way I see to have a truly healthy self image.

If we abandon trying to do 'good' and exalt the One who has done 'good' then we find ourselves living life in a different way without guilt or shame.

I am suspicous of and eventually must denounce any theology or philosophy that does not promote this view because it obscures who God Is and pushs people to try to perform in a way that is impossible.

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The Dangers of One-Upmanship

I have tried for a few minutes to summary this chunk of scripture but anything I do just seems to take some aspect of the impact away so I will just quote the whole thing...

"Then Moses answered, 'But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'' The LORD said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' He said, 'A staff.' And he said, 'Throw it on the ground.' So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the LORD said to Moses, 'Put out your hand and catch it by the tail' - so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand - 'that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.' Again, the LORD said to him, 'Put your hand inside your cloak.' And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, 'Put your hand back inside your cloak.' So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 'If they will not believe you,' God said, 'or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.' " - Exodus 4:1-9 ESV

Ok. Now Here is the actual confrontation.

"So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said." - Exodus 7:10-13 ESV

So, God has Moses use the first proof of His authority, the staff, and the overriding authority of God is revealed. Moses ran from the serpent at the burning bush but He doesn't budge now. He exercises the authority of the rod.

"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent... Thus says the LORD, 'By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood... Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said. Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart." - Exodus 7:14-15, 17, 20-23 ESV

But then the hand turning leprous then made clean is skipped and God moves Moses right to the water turning into blood but on a much larger scale then described by the bush. God said to Moses at the burning bush that water could be taken from the Nile and be turned into blood on a small scale but then has Moses turn all the water into blood. Even the water in containers drawn from the Nile before the miracle was turned into blood.

I don't see another place where the 'hand turning leprous then made clean again' was ever used anywhere else but at the burning bush.

Pharaoh just wasn't available for that kind of miracle. He was living in arrogant one-upmanship. It was a contest he (Pharaoh) was determined to win. Moses was moved by the first two miracles he didn't need to see the third one. God skipped step two with Pharaoh and amplified the third sign.

I don't pretend to fully understand the 'why's of this but i see a great danger in one-upmanship as a mindset. Debates often have this quality and it just isn't edifying.

"Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile. Seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile." - Exodus 7:23-25 ESV

I must see that my heart is sick but can be made clean. If I am not even available to that idea God might have to ramp things up to get my attention and the people around me will suffer because of my stubbornness when it could have been a small one on one exchange.

Do i have the three signs working in my life? Is God's authority overriding? Do I know my heart without God and then the cleansing that comes by knowing Him? Am I just drinking in knowledge from a cosmic source or is it communion with God that sustains me? Good questions to ask.

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Leanness Of The Soul

Looking at this progression today...

"Then they believed His words; They sang His praise. They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul." - Psalm 106:12-15 NKJV

That word leanness is razown (Strong's H7332) and it means scantness (of measure) or a wasting disease where mass is lost not gained.

The thing I love about grace when it is taught correctly is that it has embedded in it a sense of history and a lack of moral self-reliance.

Knowledge of my depravity makes me rely on grace. It isn't just an option it is everything. I am disqualified. I need counsel. If I have any native goodness I become double minded because I can forget my past and push forward with renewed effort. I can reason by 'sight' and moral principles. Then in the wilderness, I can become indignant and see suffering as unfair.

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." - Titus 2:11-14 ESV

A grace believer is motivated in gratitude that remembers a continuous need and desire for the Saviour who will give counsel using the Bible, people and insight by His Spirit as events unfold. This person isn't looking to do 'the right thing'. They long for the redemptive outcome and they have longsuffering love to endure the wilderness with 'rebound' when they fail.

If you have any native goodness then you will be too good for this. Your goodness will result in a 'wasting disease' that hinders spiritual growth. God is the only good one. We can be hidden in His goodness by grace and have peace that passes understanding. That strong tower is a greenhouse for spiritual growth.

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Dissipation

I was listening to a news report about the drought in Cape Town, South Africa and it brought me to this passage.

"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit," - Ephesians 5:18 NKJV

The word translated 'dissipation' here is asōtia (Strong's G810) and it speaks of an erosion or evaporation of integrity or wholeness.

This city had water but then the drought started. Things got worse and worse. Now water is precious and everyone is looking for new and better ways to reuse their 'gray water'. Soon the city may run dry and according to that broadcast, they would be the first modern metropolis that large that has done so.

If you have an abundance dissipation seems like no big deal but when you have very little that little bit becomes precious.

I am rich in Christ but proximity to Him reveals my poverty. I can no longer separate myself from the terrible things people do. I am just like them. Jesus died on the cross as us in full identification with the sins of the whole world. Innocent but poor beyond understanding. Stripped of everything in our place. I have an inheritance in Him. Believers are hidden in the person of this Savior. I am rich but if I am honest I am also as poor as the poorest person in true identification.

" 'All things are lawful,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up." - 1 Corinthians 10:23 ESV

Many things are pleasurable but they dissipate and I just can't afford that. I feel like I imagine Cape Town must feel (if a city feels anything). Every drop of water has become important to the inhabitants of that city. It wasn't before but it is now.

"And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." - Matthew 26:27-29 KJV

One day we will raise a glass with Christ and it will be in true celebration. There will be no dissipation because that will be a thing of the past. I look forward to that day. Jesus is abstaining so I abstain with Him. Jesus identifies so I identify. Jesus is holy and I sit with Him in His holiness. That holiness is precious and important.

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Blessed Are The Poor

"And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets...' " - Luke 6:17-23 ESV

Has anyone ever spoken quite like this?

I was thinking this morning of verse 17 and how it echoes the incarnation. Jesus came to Earth to be a man and stand on a level place with us to tell us He doesn't demand greatness. His blessing are on the poor.

That comforts me today.

He Is the healing in our midst. Our power is to receive grace and recognize the kingdom of God represented in the person of Christ.

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Coming Clean

Talking to God this morning about myself and about people. Shedding some tears and bearing my soul. Some of the tears are for the people and some are just tears because I doubt that God is listening in the way I want Him to.

Ever been there?

I know God hears and I also know enough theology to understand some things about sovereignty and holiness. I can quote Bible verses at God like I sometimes do to people. I know He is listening because my life is hidden in Christ who Is in God. Christ is seated at God's right hand in Heaven as we speak so I know I have an audience. Yet...

This closeness reveals my depravity. I am undone in the presence of holiness. I weep because I sometimes feel like a dirty fraud. I weep for myself and then repent because I am so selfish.

"Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem." - 2 Chronicles 1:14 ESV

"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity... I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind... Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 1:2, 14, 2:11 ESV

God came through for Solomon and Israel in so many ways. The land was prospering and so was Solomon. Solomon was a powerful, rich and wise man. But he was miserable at this stage of his life.

You can say that Solomon was saying that believing God has value and Earthly accomplishments are vain. You can make him sound spiritual if you want to but I think he is just miserable because God isn't blessing the work of 'his' hands. Solomon is blessed because of Abraham. Isaac and David his father and not because of Solomon.

Solomon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen in his little nation the size of New Jersey. He was a powerful man that could direct that power but it wasn't ever going to be about him and his plan.

"He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done." - 1 Kings 11:3-6 ESV

Idolatry is when we look for Gods that will bless our plans.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ" - Ephesians 1:2-9 ESV

Yes. Knowing this I become a spiritual optimist.

Tears of frustration become tears of joy.

God isn't going to bless the people I'm praying for based on me. They need work, comfort, companionship and hope and I can move my Earthly chariots (if I have them) in positions to defend them but the bottom line is that God must come through for them and in a very real way He already has. He came through long before we were born. That victory was revealed Easter morning when a man rose from the grave.

That victory can be manifested in our moments. That is what I find myself asking for.

I pray a 'grace be unto you and peace' prayer based on the risen Son... not based on myself. I start with myself sometimes but God shifts me to Jesus. I realize that the only reason I even care is because He cares and Is moving me to pray and weep.

I come clean about my selfishness and God cleanses me with His grace and mercy.

God has covered me with His robe of righteousness. My tears are dry.

Thank you God... a thousand times over... 'Thank You.'

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The Great Physician

Do you need a spiritual physician?

"And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'

But when he heard it, he said, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.'

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, 'Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?'

And Jesus said to them, 'Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.' " - Matthew 9:10-17 ESV

I we think we are just fine naturally then we will just live with our old wine skins. They will burst and we will think it's normal for that to happen.

Once we know that we need grace we can get grace but grace only comes from God.

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." - 1 Peter 5:10 ESV

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV

Jesus isn't just someone I go to see in the emergency room. He Is my family physician. There is a place for Him to recline and rest in my mind. He has a key to all the rooms of my soul... even the back rooms.

I respect His diagnosis. He loves me and cares for my soul.

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A Clean Cup

If any of you use a dishwasher perhaps you have experienced this also. Water collects on top of the mugs or rims of things from the last rinse cycle that does not get washed away. Then when you go to remove the item the wash drips down the side of the thing and gets whatever is under it wet also.

My habit, if I remember, is to open the dishwasher and find those little puddles of water and absorb them with a paper towel before I remove anything. But, If I forget I end up rinsing the whole mug off again because I don't trust that the collected water is clean and I don't want anyone in the family drinking dish washer residue.

That thought made me think of this verse.

"You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean." - Matthew 23:26 ESV

I don't know about you but I am very aware of the fact that I am a depraved person. I am not just partially bad or mostly good with some bad parts. Without God I am a utterly depraved, bent, soiled and insane person and everything I do or think is marred somehow because of it. I may not appear to be that way in that same way that others do. I may not have explored darkness in ways that others have but at my root I am as bad as anyone that ever lived. I was born to be bad.

That fact could give me a terrible self image but it doesn't. I have discovered a cleaning agent. It is wondrous and effective. I trust it fully.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV

"For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." - Hebrews 9:13-14 ESV

God has cleaned the inside of my cup. I have not cleaned it myself. I am not dripping questionable dishwater water on myself or bringing the grim of the outside inside in the effort to clean myself. No. Because of grace I have left those practices behind. They don't work. My own efforts could not remove those stains. God has made a way for me to be as pure as fresh fallen snow. I will go to Him and reason with Him.

I have left behind the illusion that I can trust myself but I have other divine provisions I can trust. These things can never be taken from me and that gives me great joy and great rest. God doesn't want me to do something that I am to broken to accomplish. His will is that I live in a thankfulness for what He has done.

"What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD," - Psalm 116:12-13 ESV

Amazing.

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God's Thoughts Not Our Emotions

We are used to believing based on how we feel 'but doing the work of God' is basing our actions on how God thinks. That is where the freedom is going to be found.

"Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.' Then they said to him, 'What must we do, to be doing the works of God?' Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent... Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.' " - John 6:26-29, 35-40 ESV

A full belly gives us nice emotions but Jesus says, 'Look at me the sent One. How do I think?' He is the embodiment of grace and truth. He is the doorway out of the trap and into the freedom. He loses nothing. He loses no one. Even heading to the cross and a brutal necessary death He says this because He believed the One sending Him was faithful.

Go ahead and weight the options. Your emotions will point you in the direction of where you can be fed. Jesus goes to cross not a breakfast table.

That is why fasting is good for us at times. It is not to punish our self in denial. It is to free us to think clearly because we have already established that we will deny our belly for a little while. Now we can make some decisions with God that deny our belly also.

"For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory." - 2 Corinthians 1:19-20 ESV

Liberty is saying 'YES' to God. But our old man is double minded if our belly is in charge.

The food isn't the problem. Food is good. God gives us food. Our old self dependent nature with it's politics and complexity is the problem.

Faith is simple. Listen and buy in. Watch what God is doing and do it with Him. Seek and find. Knock and the door will be opened. Fall backwards into God's arms. Fear will be conquered and courage will be born in faith.

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Charm and Beauty

" 'Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.'

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates." - Proverbs 31:29-31 ESV

I hope every husband says this about their wives. There is a caring, industrious, thoughtful, wise woman in every woman that knows Christ. Not everyone sees her but she is there. A sleeping beauty who waits for the son of the King to come and awaken her. Awe of God takes a stepchild and makes her into a princess. Her arms become strong. Her heart reaches out and considers others in her schedule. What she does and says is heard and seen on high.

The word translated charm there is really a word that means grace. Grace apart from substance is deceitful. Beauty apart from substance has nothing behind it. These are not born for adversity.

Grace deceitful? Apart from the fear of God it certainly is. Grace and truth meet in Christ and nowhere else. He is the Son of the King... the true noble man and only He can wake the sleeper. Only He can bring life out of death and redemption out of destruction.

The con-man can simulate favor and charm for a while. He or she seems to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (see Galatians 5:22f) for a season. Grace is many things but above all it is a method or mode of operating. The charmer uses it to establish a connection. They give a person special favor and attention so that they can match their actions to a person's preferences and get what they want from them. The goal is a combination of power and pleasure.

Man's favor and beauty will not last. They will fail the test. Perhaps they will make it through the water but not through the fire. God's throne of grace is ever living. His favor can not lie. His beauty will not fade. His love is true, reliable and clean. God's goal is love. He starts there are ends there as well. Redemption is love worked out in time.

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer." - Psalms 19:14 KJV

If our meditation is on God's redemptive favor our words will reflect that favor and those words will impart life.

It Is Finished - Part 10

The cross exposes the natural man. Jesus finished that work also on the cross. He proved that independence apart from God not only makes men dangerous to themselves but dangerous to all things that are holy.

"'You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.'

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'

But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him." Acts 7:51-57 ESV

People have wrongly used the cross as a weapon against the Jewish people to justify antisemitism. God used it as a tool to expose the the whole human race.

"For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." Romans 8:6-7 ESV

The law exposed the results of the fall but the cross was the ultimate exposing act. Fallen man not only would murder God if he could... he did murder God when given the chance.

"So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." Romans 8:12-17 ESV

We are reborn as heirs. We are no longer debtors. Now we are heirs. The Spirit bears witness to that fact.

"Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.' " Psalms 40:7-8 ESV

The Spirit bears witness to our relationship but we will always need objective truth to guide us. Jesus came in the book but the book was in Him also.

"For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth." Psalms 44:25 KJV

You may have noticed that many born again people believe some very strange things. Lineage does not automatically create wisdom. We need objective truth that the Spirit gives a witness to and uses to teach us. The letter can be dead with out the Spirit but the Word of God made alive by the Spirit of God produces miraculous results.

"The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;

The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer." Psalms 19:7-14 NKJV

The cross has taught me that I can not be trusted to function on my own. I still can not understand my own errors. I need light and the Bible serves that purpose.

"And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1:33 KJV

Jacob was a deceiver. God reigns over a household of deceivers. He has remade the whole human race as a potter remakes a broken pot. Humanity was condemned but God has remade a remnant for Himself.

"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 KJV

This Monday morning I need grace and truth and by God's grace I have both things. I have a bible in my hands that is being hidden line by line in my heart and I have a Savior. They seem separate but they are one. I will never outgrow either of them.

Grace lets Mercy Flow

Abundance will flow to a void if there is a channel... (ex. Osmosis, Electrical current, precipitation and evaporation that causes weather, etc.)

Growing in grace allows us to see the widening scope of the ramifications our depravity and not condemn ourselves for it.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" - Romans 8:1a NKJV

"Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them." Hebrews 13:9 NKJV

Depravity has created a vacuum that God would love to pour His mercy into. Grace opens a channel for us to want and have mercy poured out on us and into us.

"Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy." Micah 7:18 NKJV

God delights to give mercy! He is so rich in mercy. He wants to give it... to pour it out. He isn't holding back. There just needs to be a channel for it to flow through.

As a physician He can only give care to sick people. Healthy people do not need or want His kind of help.

"When Jesus heard that, He said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 'But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.' " Matthew 9:12-13 NKJV

"Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart," Proverbs 3:3 NKJV

"Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy." Jonah 2:8 NKJV

The cross has opened a wide channel for infinite mercy to meet the incredible needs of mankind.

When we pick up our finished work cross we become a channel of mercy. People who know and embrace grace are not shocked by the depravity of others when it is manifested. They see weakness as the perfect place for God's power to be showcased.

The Easy Burden

Addiction makes people into liars. Want... Need... Want... Need... it bends the perception back and forth the back and forth until it warps or breaks under the strain. People lie to cover something. People lie to get something.

We lie to God. We deceive others for their own sake. Cultures perpetuate some grand lies while condemning the liar. The World, the flesh and the Devil all have their hand in the mix and leviathan's hide is seamless and only God has a sword strong enough to pierce it.

Men are liars. All of them are. The lies didn't make them into liars. It was the need that did it. Adam bit an apple and turned his mind away from God for a moment and once his back was turned a need grew in him that became a hole in his soul that sucks everything else into his darkness.

"For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar" Rom 3:3-4a

God has no such need. No shadow is cast on Him nor is there any in Him. He hides but is hiding deception when you hide from a blind man?

Christ had needs but His needs never mastered Him. He mastered His needs and mastered His words.

A man of his word has carved out areas of truth. He or she sets boundaries they will not cross. They set their perception against their action and vow that they will be the same thing. The hope is that there will be a purity in it. The hope that their soul will find rest in that man made shelter and in reality that place is better than living out in the wind. It is better but not much better. The bed is still too short.

Christ slept out under the stars and alienated thousands but when He gave his word it was backed by all of Heaven's power. Christ died in His integrity. A claim only He can make. It is because He lives that His word still speaks.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30

His yoke is a yoke of believing and of learning. It is not a work that is why it is easy. Other yokes produce a need for rest afterwards. Those yokes produce needs of all kinds. God's yoke does not create needs. In fact it is the opposite. His yoke creates rest.

When we believe in Jesus something happens at our center and that life makes it's way to every part of us. Truth is not based on our perception, those perceptions can change over time, Truth is a living part of who God is and that never changes. Our memory is plastic but God lives in the eternal realm.

If we live a life with God in the honesty of faith He will chip away at our addictions. They will go at once or in time and all that came with them will be taken away also. Mercy frees us. What will be left will be real and lasting.

Yoked up to God we speak the truth in love. Those words are not designed to cover our nakedness. They are words that proclaim that our nakedness has been covered.

Faith says, 'God will meet my needs.' and we can make a claim like that if we know our core needs have already been met.

The Qualified

The cross reveals me to be an utter failure. I have been found so wanting that God had to send someone else to clean up my mess.

God sent some one perfect because I was far from perfect. Like Cain I, with all of your help, murdered this virtuous man. Like Cain I shook my head and said, 'Am I my brother's keeper??' while the blood was still on my hands.

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." 1 Cor 1:18

To the arrogant the cross is foolish to talk about. Jesus is a man who died and men die all the time. Why talk about it. The whole concept that God would send His Son to be a victim makes no sense. For the man who is brutal and would victimize to save his own life... the one who steps on the fingers and heads of others to climb the corporate ladder one rung higher sees a God like that as weak and a Savior who would perish as weaker.

As the distant image gets closer... a despised man hanging forever it seems in Cathedrals. Frozen in amber. He is everywhere... but easy to ignore if you try. If the image and the words draw close and you hear, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.' (see Luke 23:34)... and you realize that this statue is speaking to you.

The cross is the bell ringing and sounding out the funeral of a fallen life. It says I am guilty and so incapable that God had to resort to a plan that not only didn't rely on my ability to come through... it rested on the fact that He knew there was murder in my heart. Ouch.

That bad news, that dismal indictment, is the first sentence to the best news I will ever hear. Only the truly guilty can be fully pardoned! The fully leprous are declared by the priest to be clean (Lev 13:13)

The cross reveals the fullness of my sickness. It pushes my basic goodness over the cliff of utter depravity and I find that as I am falling that there is someone there to catch me.

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as WHITE AS SNOW; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Is 1:18

"Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is ALL TURNED WHITE: he is clean." Lev 13:13

The Gospel has never been a message of moral uprightness. It is a message of murder and redemption. Arrogance is a wall that will prevent us from getting through the first sentence... if we make it through to hear... 'Forgive them Father'... and then to 'It is finished!' then what rapture awaits us. What transformation.

We can raise white clean hands in worship with tears of joy streaming down our cheeks and cry, 'I was lost but now I'm found! I was blind but now I see. I was guilty but now I'm pardoned. I was trapped but now I'm free!'

The one I killed died for me. His death sealed my pardon. His empty grave it the proof of it. It was God's plan all along.

Christ no longer hangs on a cross on a hill. He sits on a throne in glory and only murderers are qualified to sit there with Him.