Month: August 2016

The foundation was laid with massive stones hewn from deep in the earth. The walls leading up to the sacred place were straight and true positioned perfectly with white marble. The courtyard was ordered and marked for specific people and access to each designated area was secured only by sacrifice and decree. Beyond the courtyard, the chosen could venture to the soaring edifice with bronze doors that towered to the sky. Through the doors the cleansed and holy leaders came to beckon and petition the Creator and Sustainer of all life for the people. Deeper still, curtains as tall as the cedars of Lebanon separated the holiest of men from the presence of the holiest visitation dwelling of the Most Holy God. This was the temple that glistened so brightly on the peak of Mount Zion that those who gazed upon it had to turn away from its spectacular and stunning brilliance.

Yet this magnificent edifice that shone so brightly glistening in the sunlight was destroyed by the powerful Roman army and all that is left is a mountain of massive foundational stones. The Savior who foretold of second temple’s destruction will someday come with an indescribable brilliance brighter than the sun which He created and with a greater power than all the armies that have ever held power in their hands and efforts.

In the meantime the temple that glistens does not shine from reflective light. The “Temple” of today is where the Risen Christ dwells in us and it glistens from the living presence of the “One” that created all things and reigns over and above all things (Colossians 1, 2) as He imparts His Holy Spirit to guide, comfort, teach and convict us.  He is not separated from us by a heavy curtain but has torn it asunder forever that He might be with us always (Matthew 28:20) There is no need for endless sacrifices for sin for our Savior became the sacrifice for all sin for all time for any and all who come to Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Finally He does not withhold His holiness to times and calendars but He covers us with His holiness because of His boundless loving grace that we might not bear condemnation. (Romans 8:1).

Rejoice in the Christ who lives in you through the Holy Spirit and let Him shine through you as you follow Him as Lord each and every day.

Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you and which ye have from God, and that ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, KJ21).

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:54-6, KJ21).

There is a peculiar reality about idols; those that worship a particular idol do not find the idol of their worship peculiar. Typically they do not see or question either the faith entrusted to their idol as fallacy or the outcomes of their trusting in a particular idol being subject to real scrutiny.  There is blindness in their awareness as to where they have anchored their faith and trust. People around them may see or not see the fallacy of trusting in any idol depending on the cultural significance and acceptance of idols but generally idols can be quite entrenched in individuals and groups.

When God gave Moses the commandment regarding graven images or idols, the cultures of the time created countless representative idols and worshiped them. From various animals to numerous deities in various forms, sexualities, and realms related to life, needs and provisions. We may not worship golden calves or speak of Asherah and we may even scoff and sneer at those that worship a visible and tangible idol while failing to see the idols in our own lives. We can hope and trust in many things that are much more of an illusion of substance than a physical idol.

Idolatry can include the worship of any of countless false gods – whether they are new or old.  Idolatry can also be the adoration and obsession of such things as fame, technologies, relationships, books, our appearance, music, ourselves, nature, celebrities, money, materialism, mysticism, self-aggrandizement, power, politics, and countless other things that become gods in our lives thus taking us from the worship of God.

An idol can be anything that we come to love with a deep devotion which leads to worship and comes to fruition as adoration, homage and trust given to anything other than the Almighty Living God. Only God, our precious Savior and the Holy Spirit are worthy of our trust and worship. We must watch out for the idols that might be found in our lives!

For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens (Psalm 96:4-5, KJ21).

Into the woods of dappled light …

Just beyond the meadow of blossoming clover, soft and fair …

Are the woods of dappled light which beckons all to freely come.

We cannot sense the destination only the life around our cares,

Still walk we must, venturing forth adding only to the unknown sum.

 

For there is much to see and much to note as we seek our way …

Essence in the leaves of days yet undiscovered colored green and bold.

What is all new and laden with dew midst the branches as they sway,

is mingled with ancient wood of legacy giving as much life as it is old.

 

What will be of us, if we remain in the meadow rolling soft and fair … 

and venture not into the unfamiliar woods of nuanced dappled light?

Will we stay or go, following what the dancing rays offer willing to share,

joyfully lit, yet fully challenged of adventure, trial, beauty and delight?

 

So what becomes of us will always be in the look and the simple choice …

always unknown but time to fill along the winding trail just beyond the glade.

Our faith gently pulls and pushes us forward, giving life and lifting voice,

in what the woods of dappled light will gift us in the journey we have made.

 

It is easy to remain in the comfortable. It is easy to stay in places of the familiar and friendly.  These are always meadows of what we know and what we have. The ease and calm of these places of remaining in the secure and the known can be our undoing. It can also be deadening to our faith.

 

There is unknown place just beyond the meadows of the comfortable life. It beckons and intrigues us but it is unknown.  Most people even as they see edge of this place just beyond do not go forward but remain in what they know and believe.  Jesus spoke of the way beyond the way that was.  To the “Rich Young Ruler” it was the way of journeying beyond what he had done in comfort to a place of life in the surrender in the unknown.  We can stay in places of comfort or we venture forth into the dappled light of faith and find life.

 

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls (Hebrews 11:39, ESV)

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, KJV).

There is nothing inherently wrong in the common translation of this major, familiar and meaningful verse but we often miss the deeper insights of faith-giving implications of truth woven into the promises found in this verse.

We often make this verse about “things” when the truth is far more powerful and life changing. We diminish the powerful and incredible direct attention, responsiveness and work that flows gracefully from the extravagant love of our Heavenly Father as Almighty God upon our lives by making this verse about concepts of good feelings, things and outcomes that we as created beings long for.

The truth is much deeper as to the point and purpose of this verse. The greater context of the verse revolves around our purchased and secure relationship as heirs and children of God through the redeeming and interceding work of  Jesus Chris as our Savior and the Holy Spirit as the Comforter in all things.  Thus the days that make up our lives are really not about good things coming to us or even having faith to perceive things as good.   This verse is also nestled directly in thoughts and truths regarding suffering throughout our lives and the unwavering involvement and care of the Holy Spirit in all things including suffering.  Suffering is seldom evaluated as good in our fleshly understanding but going deeper in our faith as children of God.  We must seek to understand Heavenly Father’s love upon us and His working through and in all things by His Spirit alive in us.

Thus we give Him all our things and all our days that He might do His work in and on our hearts of clay with His masterful hands as the “Potter” who knows all things and crafts us as His masterpiece as we yield to Him.

The truth is and will always be, faith is not about things being good but about knowing and trusting God to be the good in all things. Thus our lives are not about things being good or bad and trying to make sense of them but about living in God’s love and letting Him work in our lives through all things for His purposes. God is in the good in all things because He is good at all times in all things.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, NIV)

 Suggested Reading … Romans 8

“Thou shalt not murder” (Exodus 20:13, NKJV)

Of all the commandments, the commandment to not take a human life is one of the easiest commandments to dismiss.  “You shalt not murder” (Exodus 20:13, NKJV) is a more correct and a better translation than “You shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13, KJV).  The number of murderers in most societies is quite small. Yet from time to time, murder does take place on occasion. We see systematic brutal slaughters in nationalistic or religious fanaticism and pointless or senseless murder at times in our own culture and cringe, but generally it becomes somewhat easy to dismiss this commandment because it might apply to others in other places but never seems very near to us.

Yet Jesus … takes this commandment from the realm of a general non-applying rule and thrusts it like a burning ember into the lives of all human beings. Thus the commandment that most lends itself to being easily dismissed becomes a cautionary truth about anger which should sear the tendencies of rationalization and non-application in all of His followers (Matthew 5:21-26).

Although most people do not carry out plans for the taking of a life, Jesus identifies the source of all fiery and burning deeds of murder lies in the tinder of anger that leads to the beginnings of any such action. In the Kingdom of God, judgment from Christ comes to those who are unrelenting in their anger, sentencing follows on those who attach contempt to their verdict and severe and lasting condemnation to those who in anger would curse another person.

Jesus desires his followers to understand in deep ways the danger of anger and need for forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption. We can see our need for these actions for our salvation but their application is needed in our daily walk and in every relationship we have in the world around us that we may save ourselves from our own destruction.

Jesus later identifies all sin as coming from the heart (Matthew 15:19) and any strong and unreleased anger in our hearts will bring about many of these sins including the taking of any life. Thus the commandment to not murder is not a commandment without appropriateness in our lives but one of daily application to listen to the Spirit of God to release and even crucify our dangerous contempt and anger so the “Fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) may grow in our lives.

Suggested Reading … Matthew 5 and Galatians 5