Living Thankfully with God's Presents

Tomorrow a fixed commercial ethic will be breached. Stores will be open early Thanksgiving Day morning to kick off the Christmas shopping frenzy! Whether you choose to participate or not, it's only a matter of time before you begin your pursuit of those perfect presents to give your loved ones.

 

And did you know that Giving is divine! The Bible declares that God gives good and perfect presents: everything we need for living a godly life (James 1:17; 2 Pet 1:3-4). Paul fills in the details: the gift of salvation, of eternal life, of grace, and of Jesus Himself. Moreover, Christ has given us gifts to serve and encourage one another.

And if that's not enough, Jesus considers us a gift. Yes, He will “present to Himself a glorious church,” and “present her faultless before God” (Jude 24). Consequently, God asks us to “present our bodies to God as a living and holy sacrifice,” and to “present ourselves approved to God” (Rom 12:1, 2 Tim 2:15). Considering this present-rich environment, is it any wonder the Psalmist happily declares, “In His Presence (or is it presents?) is fullness of joy!” (16:11) Live THANKFULLY!

Weather Warning: A Cold Front is Moving In

There is a cold front moving in to the North East, and Nor'easters are being warned to get read for a snowy Thanksgiving. Did you know that Jesus warned of a cold front in the last days: the love of many will grow cold (Matt. 24:12)? The last letter written to the churches in Revelation 3 is Laodicea, characterized as a lukewarm church.  Today, the number of passionate believers in Jesus is decreasing while lukewarm-ness accelerates to near apostasy.

Do you know that the Bible prophecies a strong delusion (2 Thess. 2:11), like a freezing wind, will numb out everyone (including lukewarm believers) in the last days. And then, when the Holy Spirit is removed from the earth, this freeze will move in and make everyone so cold they no longer feel the love of God. Is this why Jude says, Keep yourselves in the love of God (Jude 21), and Paul, Be on fire with the Spirit (Rom. 12:11)? When you see this cold front moving in, watch your heart. Don't be left out in the cold!

‘Selfie’—Word of the Year; “Braggie” not far Behind

A “selfie” is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone held at arm's length, and then posted to one's social networks. Significantly, it is Oxford Dictionaries' “word of the year,” the word, they believe, that best reflects the mood of the times.

As a ‘what’s-happening-in-our-culture’ person, I took note of this otherwise innocuous event. The word selfie powerfully (and unashamedly) expresses our culture's obsession with self-promoting social media. And while “selfie” is the word of this year, a new popular term (and practice) is close behind—'braggie,' an image posted to social networks designed purely to show off or make friends jealous.

Being consumed with one's self-image is not new; but it has found a new avenue of expression. Are we not all latent selfies and braggies at heart? Social media is only unveiling the things hidden in the heart of mankind. If selfie reflects the mood of the times, maybe Oxford's choice is a cultural wake-up call.

The Bible is not just another Paperback

Evidently, it is.  A California pastor was outraged this week when he found the Bible filed under “Fiction” at a Costco store near his home. Just another paper back? Forty years ago, in the book, “As One without Authority,” author Fred Craddock asked the question, “Where have all the absolutes gone?” If then, how much more today!

When Jesus spoke to the crowds, they were astonished that He taught as “one who had authority” (Matt. 7:28-29). Biblical authority has been at issue since Paul warned of those who would reject sound doctrine (2 Tim 4:3). Two thousand years later, the spirit of the age is still trying to undermine the authority of the Word. 

I don’t presume to know what is happening in the church around the world today. But looking at the popular teaching of the largest churches in America, one would conclude that the masses want to hear more sermons on self-improvement and self-actualization than good exegesis and exposition. Perhaps the paper back Bibles found in the “Fiction” section at Costco really are a sign of the times!

Wars and Rumors of Wars: the Nations are in Distress

This week it was revealed that that the U.S. is considering an extended 10-year soldiers-on-the-ground commitment in Afghanistan, already the longest war in U.S. history. Is anyone surprised!? Wars are accepted as the new norm! According to a recent article by the “Peace Plan Union,” there have been 250 major wars since WWII, with over 50 million killed, millions injured, and millions more homeless. This century stands out as the bloodiest in history: 3 times more dead in the last 90 years than in the previous 500.

A major sign of the end times is an increase of wars. There are 38 going on right now, with regular rumors of more! And, given the unstoppability of nuclear proliferation, no wonder the nations are in distress!

It is hard not to see this as a sign of the times, but many Evangelicals have numbed out. Jesus said when you see the “distress of the nations,” it is time to “stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). I’m not suggesting you sell your condo in Florida just yet; but it seems to me there are things happening in the world today to which we need to pay closer attention.

Life is unfair and I don’t deserve this.

There have been a number of news stories recently about the over-treating of certain medical issues, i.e, too many unnecessary tests, too much medication, etc. Certain doctors are concerned over-treatment could be be doing more harm than good.

The double meaning of the phrase “over-treating” didn’t escape me. Is there such a thing as “over-treating” oneself? Clearly, and painfully, the answer is ‘yes.’ And doing more harm than good! Rooted in Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve, each of us is inclined to grab a fruit from the wrong tree. This syndrome manifests itself in many ways, but the general temptation comes when we say, “life is unfair and I don’t deserve this.”

In light of this psychological phenomenon, it behooves each of us to examine ourselves for a self-revelation: how do we over-treat ourselves when life deprives us of something we think we deserve?

Obama-Care Promotes "Hooking Up"

Back in the 1960s (when I was a teen), the “Hippie Movement” and its consequent “sexual revolution,” along with forces like Hugh Heffner, began to change the way the Western world viewed sex.  In hindsight, we can see it was the seed of a moral decline that has come to full bloom in today’s “hookup culture.” 

It seems we must have reached the zenith of this cultural phenomenon when even the U.S. government promotes casual sex, aka, “hooking up,” as a norm. Last week this advertisement appeared on various social media venues.

Since it's difficult to read the small pint, I will tell you what it says. An excited young woman appears next to a picture board of Ryan Gosling who says, Got Insurance? Hey girl, you're excited about easy access to birth control, and I'm excited about getting to know you. She [the girl in the picture] got insurance. Now you can too. Thanks Obama-Care. 

God Takes No Pleasure in Your Legs

A few years ago, I wrote a post called “Can You Outrun the Chariots.” In this story (1 Kings 18), Elijah supernaturally outruns King Ahab’s chariots, escaping from Jezebel who was out to kill him for destroying her prophets of Baal.

Chariots represent the might of armies. Man’s legs represent the power of the individual. “God does not delight in the strength of the horse [chariots]; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man” (Ps. 147:10). In other words, it was neither slow chariots nor fast legs that accomplished God's purposes that day. It was the superhuman power of God working through a mere man.

This story illustrates the divine/human partnership where God operates through weak, humble humans. In these perilous times, with events beyond our control, we certainly cannot rely on our armies, and our legs will surely fail us. No, God wants us to relinquish control to Him who accomplishes all things, “Not by might, not by power, by My Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). Only Spirit-filled legs will hold up in the days ahead.

Pluralism or Polytheism?

The exclusive claims of Christ—“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)—are being rejected by an alarming number of millennial evangelicals who favor pluralism—the belief that diverse religious belief systems can co-exist in society. But such multiplicity is only a short step to polytheism—the belief that ‘god’ is many rather than one.

Is it so far-fetched to suggest that the modern movement of young evangelicals toward pluralism mirrors that of the Hebrews' recurrent relapses into polytheism? God hated their idolatry: “For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods” (Ex. 20:5 NLT). The first 2 of the 10 Commandments (which are no longer tolerated in the public square) require absolute devotion to and worship of God alone.

Fifty years ago, no one would have imagined that a nation rooted in a Judeo Christian worldview could become polytheistic! We pride ourselves on having becomes a society of diverse beliefs.  But anyone who believes one god is as good as another is not a pluralist; he or she is a polytheist.

Who Gets to Define Reality?

Facebook, Twitter, news feeds, and mobile apps are all information sources that didn’t exist just a few years ago. And not only do they affect the way people get news and information, but more importantly, how they form opinions. With the swipe of a finger or click of a mouse, opinions are set, and values altered.

 
Without any universally accepted moral standards, determining what is ‘real’ in our amorphous culture is getting exponentially harder. For a biblically-ignorant, culturally-adaptive, and socially-sensitive population, it is getting almost impossible to find a place for Scripture’s strict morality and “one-way” exclusivity—Even in the church. How else can you explain why half of young evangelicals are now accepting the inevitability of abortion, the moral ambiguity of gay marriage, and a pluralistic world view?
 

Incongruously, the “information” age is disseminating a lot of “misinformation.” And at a time when the church should be exalting a biblical worldview, it is bowing down to the spirit of the age by bowing out of its role of defining reality. For the remnant of the church still holding fast, this may be its last chance to influence the reality-seeking ‘Millennial’ and ‘Z’ generations. 

Are We Seeing the Apostasy? Take Heed, lest You Fall!

Are we seeing the start of the great apostasy, the falling away (from faith) that Paul predicted would occur in the end times (2 Thess. 2:3)?  Just look around at the increasing rejection of Biblical standards and the consequent decline of morality. The disparity between what people consider right and wrong is a grand canyon. We may not yet know its full impact on the church. But we know it is increasing. Is this why Paul warned, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12)?

Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day for not “discerning the times” (Matt. 16:13). While only God knows when all these things will transpire, it behooves us to be watching over our hearts to assure we are not among the fallers. Nor should we be surprised to find that we are being slowly outnumbered by what-I-call “unbelieving” believers. Jesus warned that there would be a time when many “false messiahs and prophets will deceive, if possible, even the elect,” followed by the words: “Take heed” (Mark 13:21-22). Indeed, let us.

You can Almost See the End from Here

Polish Nobel Peace prize winner Lech Walesa addressed the Nobel Peace Prize committee last month, calling for a new “secular” Ten Commandments that would express universally-shared values for all religions of the world. It's not hard to see this as movement toward a One World Religion, one of the end-time prophecies.

Nor is it hard to see unrest in the Middle East exploding into a Mid-East war, if not a world war, and all the more because of Israel's imminent attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. What's more, because of the region’s oil wealth, it is easy to imagine the fulfillment of the Gog-Magog invasion (Russia and Iran).

With Israel back in the Holy Land for a generation, steeped in global conflict as prophesied for the end times, and with geo-political instability, along with the re-posturing of post-WWII allies, how long can it be before a leader (Anti-Christ) appears on the world stage, offering a plan for unity, peace, and hope? “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7).

Rest Stops

On Saturday, Altha and I drove down to a little town called San Juan Batista. People go to this otherwise unremarkable town to tour the California Mission built in 1797. It was a quiet peaceful time away from the fast-pace of the Bay Area where such restfulness can be hard to find.

After God created the world, the Bible says, He rested. But not because He was tired. Because He was finished (Heb. 4:10). Therein lies an important characteristic of God. He doesn’t stop and rest until His work is done. And God's work in us is not finished yet. Being human, however, we need to stop and rest along the way.

So like a wise father on a road trip with children in the back seat, crying out, “Are we there yet?” He gives us these much-needed “rest stops.” But as we mature, we learn that no  “rest stop” can satisfy us until, and unless, we have first come to know Jesus as our permanent resting place, no matter how long we have been on the road. “Let us be diligent to enter that rest” (Heb. 4:11).

Something Better

When someone suffers a loss of some kind, like a break-up or the loss of a job, it is rather cliché to say, “God has something better for you.”  Yet, when God says He has “something better” for us, it is no empty platitude. The writer of Hebrews tells of persecuted, tortured and martyred saints who died without ever knowing the full impact of their lives because He, the God “who is able to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Eph. 3:20), had “something better” for them (11:40).

Of course the way we define “something better” is all important. For example, after a year of surgery, medical procedures, and invasive treatments, it’s not hard for me to imagine “something better.” A year ago, I was imagining I would be mentoring students at Phoenix Seminary. What could be better than that?  But the Lord showed me that mentoring students is something “I” can do. And that “something better” for me would be something “I” can not do. In God's economy, something better is anything that makes us more dependent on Him, and, ultimately, conforming us to the image of Christ. So then, is not He the “something better” our hearts are yearning for?