Difficulty in Being a Christian

When we read the words of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we realize that being a Christian is a great opportunity; i.e., peace is given to us in this life, and we are promised the beautiful life beyond this one.  But it is also often difficult.  An example of the kinds of things that the Bible teaches against is given in Romans 1:28, ".....things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful...."  These are all things that we are to avoid.

But we see later in this same book, Paul's letter to the Roman Christians, that Paul is struggling with a lot of moral issues himself.  Note Romans 7:15, "For what I am doing, I do not understand.  For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do."  And later, "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice."  I do not know all that Paul is struggling with here; but it is obvious that he is having great difficulty with some things.

But life is like that; and sin is like that.  We struggle in this life; yet we are to strive to do right, to live right, to do others right, to think right.  We know from further reading the words of Paul that he conquered these challenges to his faith.  And we need to conquer our challenges. 

Jesus promises life, eternal life in heaven, with Him if we follow Him; if we live for Him.  This is our challenge.  Let's meet it!  "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne; as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Revelation 3:20)

Have a great week.   Feel the love.

Truth

Truth brings lots of questions.  What is truth?  Does truth really exist?  Is it within us...or without?  It is interesting that the Bible answers all the major questions of life:  Where we came from, the purpose of life, where we are going, and, yes, what is truth. 

When Jesus was about to meet His death, He stood before Pontus Pilate, the Roman governor, to be tried.  In John 18:36, Jesus said, " 'My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.  But My kingdom is not from the world.'  Then Pilate said to Him, 'So you are a king?'  Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king.  For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.'  Pilate said to Him, 'What is truth?' "  At this point, Jesus could have given him an answer, but Pilate would not have benefited from it, for his heart just wasn't right.  But we know what Jesus would have said; just read on. 

In John 14, Jesus was talking with His apostles about having to leave them and what would happen to them.  Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where You are going.  How can we know the way?"  "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  This is the answer that Jesus could have given Pilate; "I AM the truth!"

The importance of truth is shown in John 8:32.  "If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  Those listening then asked what He meant by "free," whereupon He explained that He meant free from sin.  When people sin, they become a "slave to sin." Jesus came to provide a solution to this slavery; He came to free us from this.  But Hebrews 10:26 points out: "..if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment...."  So Jesus saves us....but only if we follow Him. 

And finally, "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God..."  (1 Peter 1:22)

Truth matters.....and it is only found in the Bible.  God gave it to us through His Word.  Have a great week.  You matter......

What is a Christian?

There are so many ideas and opinions in today's world as to what makes a person a Christian that it seems appropriate to examine the Bible concept, since this is what matters anyway.  Some would say that a Christian is a member of some "Christian" church.  Others might say that a Christian is one who holds to certain Christian beliefs.  And others might say that he is a good person, kind, considerate, giving, having lots of good qualities.  Perhaps all of this is true; but let's look at the Bible for some guidelines.

Jesus talked a great deal about what He expected His followers to be.  We see much of this teaching in the sermon on the mount, as recorded in Matthew 5-7.  It would be impossible to properly summarize all of these thoughts in a paragraph or two, but let me do so anyway.  He taught that He wanted our heart. our commitment completely, our whole self.  He summarized it in Matthew 7:24, by saying:  "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house; and it fell.  And great was its fall."  The emphasis of Jesus was always placed on obeying.  He wanted followers, disciples, but He wanted them to be obedient. 

Then,  as Jesus was about to leave the earth, He instructed His apostles to carry out His mission:  "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."  This shows the way He intended for people to become Christians. And we see this carried out in the book of Acts, which covers the period after Jesus leaves the earth and goes to heaven.

Much of the rest of the Bible is dedicated to showing how a Christian should live.  Notice these words in Hebrews 10:23-25:  "Let us hold fast the confession  of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another...."  It is not enough to become a Christian, and to be a good person, striving to be like Christ; we need also to be a part of His church, assembling with other Christians to build up, encourage, each other.

Let's do it!  Thanks for reading again.  Feel the love. 

The Purpose of Man

The Bible answers so many of the questions of life; where we came from, where we are going, and even why are we here.  A great place to get some of these answers is in the Old Testament, book of Ecclesiastes.  This book is written by king Solomon, son of king David.  Solomon had pleased the Lord in his willingness to follow in the footsteps of his father; so God asked Solomon what he would like, take his choice (I Kings 3).  Solomon passed up riches and long life and asked for wisdom, a discerning mind.  God was so pleased at his choice that he gave him all of the above.  In Solomon's wisdom, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, of which we are the beneficiaries. 

Much of the book of Ecclesiastes is dedicated to telling the reader what is wise, what is profitable, and what is vain (useless).  Note in chapter 12, the writer tells us: "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, 'I have no pleasure in them'...and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.  Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity."  The message here is that we should not wait until life is gone to serve our Lord.  He is the one who will save us.

He concludes the book with these words, which tell us what we are actually here on earth for:  "The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil."  Our duty then is spelled out here, to fear God and keep His commandments.  And we see all through the Bible the charge to keep His commandments.  We are to love Him.....but we also are to obey Him.  That is often hard to do, but is what we are supposed to do. 

Thanks for reading again.  Have a great week!

The Only Book........

The Bible is the only book ever written that gives all the answers to life.  It tells of the beginning of the world, how God created it, tells of the ending of the world, still to come of course....and how God will end it.  And the Bible tells what will exist after the world is destroyed, the spiritual world to come.  This blog posting will briefly mention all of these things.  The Bible also tells of all the things in between the beginning and the end; i.e., what man's purpose of being here is, the history of man from early man through Bible times, and so much more.  The latter can be the subject of a later discussion.  But for now we will consider the beginning and ending and what is to come.

I love beginnings and endings.  This is certainly true for a novel.  Think about it; if a novel starts off with a bang or a strong beginning, our interest is excited.  And there is nothing like a strong ending to any book.  Think about Snoopy on the roof of his doghouse, typing on his typewriter.  He is a great author, and every book begins: "It was a dark and stormy night...."

So the Bible begins even more awesomely: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."  We learn right off how this earth came into being and who did it.  So powerful!

We read of the end of the earth in several places in the Bible.  A good description is given in 2 Peter 3, beginning in verse 10: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."  This is an awesome forecast for sure....but it is a true one.  The reader would do well to read the whole chapter; it is a powerful forewarning, given to Christians to make sure they, we, are ready.

And finally, we see that the Bible goes beyond now, goes beyond the end of the world, and tells us of what lies beyond, the beautiful heaven that awaits Christians.  Note Revelation chapter 21 and 22.  Revel. 21 starts it: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (our present earth)."  He proceeds to describe the new heaven, and who will get to enjoy it.  And this is powerful writing; we should all dwell on it.

This is all heavy, important stuff.  Don't miss it!  And thanks for reading....and feel the love. 

The Pope

With the Pope stepping down and much of the world watching the appointment/election of the next pope, it seems appropriate to look at the Bible connection to the Pope and Catholicism.  There is no way to do a thorough examination of this subject in this small medium; but a few ideas will be presented to stir our thinking. 

In Matthew 16, beginning in verse 13, Jesus had a discussion with Peter, the man that Catholics say was the first Pope.  Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?"  "Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'  Jesus replied, 'Blessed are you.............And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church..."  This seems to be a placing of position on Peter, above the others.  But on examination of the original Greek, realizing that the NT was written in Greek and later translated into English, we see that "Peter" means "pebble," where Jesus says "upon this rock (boulder) I will build My church."  The Greek words are totally different.  Jesus was not saying that He would build His church upon Peter, but rather on the foundation principle that Peter had just spoken: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Matthew 23:19 says, "Call no man your father on earth, for you have one father, who is in heaven."

Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me..."  It was given to no man on earth.

It is also clear in the NT that Peter was married.

Perhaps the strongest point in the Bible is made by Jesus on the last night of His ministry on earth, the night He was betrayed.  Luke 22:24-26 says, "Now there arose a dispute among them, which of them was considered to be the greatest.  Jesus said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.  But you are not to be like that.  Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.' "  This was a key time for Jesus to point out that Peter would be in a higher position; but in fact, just the opposite occurred.

Many or all of these points are explained away by the Catholic church.  But when one looks at the NT fairly, it is clear that there is no Catholic church there, no Pope, no authority in heaven or earth but Jesus Himself. 

Thanks for reading.  You are important.

Esther

The story of Esther is one of the most interesting in the Bible, and one of the easiest to read.  If the reader hasn't read the book of Esther, take the hour or so to read through it; it is fascinating.  We will use this blog entry to mention a key part of the story.

The book is set in the time of Xerxes, king of Persia.  One of the powerful things that we learn about the Bible is that it talks about real people who lived in real places at real times.  The Bible is true and accurate.  Xerxes was a significant ruler, ruling over a large kingdom, one of the most powerful of all time.  But the king did not always have good advisors, and Haman was an evil advisor to Xerxes.  Haman talked the king into making a decree that all of the Jewish people should be destroyed.  It so happened that king Xerxes had made Esther, a beautiful Jewish girl, to be his queen.  Esther's uncle, Mortecai, told Esther about the decree to kill the Jews, and instructed Esther that she had to be the one to approach the king for finding a way to save her people.  Esther knew that to go before the king and ask for any favor could result in her death.  But she was realizing that she was the only one close enough to the king to take on this challenge. 

Mortecai says to Esther, paraphrased here, that if you keep silence at this time, deliverance will come to the Jews from another source.  But who knows but what you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this. 

This is a powerful statement that motivated Esther to take action to save her people.  And it is a thought that could have major import to us.  There are times in our lives, maybe even now, when we have the opportunity, are placed in just the right position, to make a huge difference in some way.  But we have to have faith and inner strength to do the right thing, sometimes the brave, courageous thing.  And sometimes it is only us who can do it, only us who are in the right place and time to do it.  We can learn a lot from Esther and from this wonderful story.  Take time to read it; you will be impressed...and even entertained. 

Have a great week!