It’s Not about You

Oddly enough, after we’ve found the joy of a life in Christ, we’re still human. Before our moment of salvation, we were “me” focused. Oh, I know most of us cared for others, took care of our families, gave to charity, etc. But the end game was always about how it made me feel. I gave to charity out of a sense of guilt. Toss a buck in the Salvation Army kettle and I felt pretty darned good the rest of the day.

Life after salvation doesn’t always fix that problem. We still tend to give because we read in the bible that we’re expected to give. Most of us eventually come to a place where we truly look forward to giving opportunities like a Michigander looks forward to spring. We learn to love our spouses and truly enjoy those moments when we can offer help or comfort. Heck, we even find that it’s enjoyable to take the abuse of fire breathing atheists.

But most of us will struggle with one last annoying little “me” corner of our brains. We go around concerned that we’re not doing enough for God. Or that we don’t give enough. Or that we still harbor sinful thoughts and do sinful things. What if I’ve gone too far? What if God pulls my “saved” status from the book of life? What if seven chapters a day of bible study won’t cut the mustard seed?

You see the difference between the “me” before and the “me” after? There really isn’t any. It’s still a focus on self instead of a focus on God.

You’ll hear me rant about this often. Stop focusing on how much or how little you’ve done for God! You can’t do enough for an eternal God. Through careful reason, you’ll realize that you really can’t do too little. If you walk three steps of an infinite road or run a hundred miles, how much closer are you to the end?

Exactly.

Your salvation was bought and paid in full with the blood of Christ. Don’t flatter yourself into believing you can pay that back. And don’t render Christ’s suffering meaningless by believing that you can lose your salvation because of the occasional screw up.

Once you grasp this concept fully, only then are you of any use to the Master. He doesn’t ask anything of you, but He asks for all of you. Surrender the “me” to Him. Once you’ve done that, you’ll know true freedom.

Your servant,

Ron

Arguing with Atheists and other time wasters

You will find, my friends, that you will be met with no small amount of criticism once you make this decision to follow Christ. I’ve stated before that I will not softsell the gospel. So let me be clear that you will be mocked, impugned, made fun of, and shunned by who Charles Spurgeon referred to as “educated idiots.”

I prefer the term arrogant idiots. Arrogant because they refuse to believe in something that their 6lb. brains cannot grasp. I can’t grasp infinity, quantum physics, or Glee, but I can except their existence.

But for some odd reason that I also cannot grasp, atheists insist on confronting us on twitter and facebook, demanding that we prove God’s existence and explain certain passages in the bible. It seems to me they spend an unwarranted amount of time getting up in the face of people they believe are nuts. I’m not sure what outcome they’re pursuing. Perhaps they collect backslidden Christian scalps. Or maybe they’re concerned about the hour we waste in church every Sunday when we could better spend our time improving the ratings of the NFL pre-game shows.

Here’s what I recommend when you are confronted with a lunatic atheist. Be kind. Answer the question the best you can. Move on.

When Jesus sent his followers into the towns to proclaim the good news, He did not tell them to rent assembly halls and engage in a televised debate over the existence of God. He told them that if people didn’t believe them, they were to shake the dust of the town from their feet and move on. In today’s vernacular, He said to show ‘em your backside on the way to the door.

In other words: don’t waste your time.

Now, some of my friends will disagree. They enjoy engaging in debate with the non-believers. I don’t know of one who’s actually changed the mind of an atheist, but I would suggest that any atheist who does turn probably wasn’t very convinced of his atheism in the first place. It was just a cool thing to call yourself on your facebook profile. Very gen Y.

If you enjoy a good debate, knock yourself out. Couldn’t be worse than Words With Friends as far as hobbies go. But keep in mind that while you spend precious time debating the 8% of the population who call themselves atheists, there are around 60% of the population who believe in a god, but just haven’t had anyone guide them to the one true God. That should be you, my friend.

Now, I may be biased. I didn’t even get chosen to be water boy for my high school debate team. I tend to stumble and forget stuff. I mean easy stuff, like my name. Some people just aren’t debaters. It doesn’t make them stupid. It just means we need a blog to think about our answers.

So back to the 60%. They’re waiting for someone to come along and give them guidance. In the time you spend debating one of those annoying twitter people who always end their blasphemy against God with a #LOL, you could have gotten ten open minded people to skip a night at the bar and crack open a bible.

Okay? Now get busy. Sorry, @AtheistWithTooMuchTimeOnYourHands, I got better things to do. Jesus said the harvest was ripe and the workers few. No time to deal with weeds. Or was that mean spirited? Sorry, I get that way from time to time.

Your servant,

Ron

How Could God Let That Happen

Like most unsuspecting humans, I’ve become a bit of a twitter junkie. Many of you landed here because of something I posted. As you probably suspect, I get many replies to my tweets. The profane and offensive I just ignore. But sometimes someone asks a very good question, and I would be remiss if I didn’t do my best to respond.

A young lady from Toronto (where I spent my honeymoon, by the way) asked me how God could allow a small child to be shot and killed in cold blood.

A 140 word response can not do justice to this question, so I’ll use up a little more space here. My response:

God gave us free will. Unless we have free will, our decision to love Him would be meaningless. A robot can be programmed to do only what its creator wishes.

We are not robots. We are made in God’s image and given the freedom to choose our own course. Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God in a blatant attempt to make themselves equal with God. As did Satan. Adam and Eve were cast from Eden. Satan was cast from Heaven.

Like Adam, Eve, and Satan, we have a choice in this life to choose good or bad. Ultimately, we must choose to believe in God, leading to eternity in Heaven, or reject God, leading to eternity in Hell. Yes, it is fair. Because the choice is simple and requires no effort on our part. It is simply a matter of surrendering our desire to be little gods and giving glory to the one true God.

And because we have free will and can choose, bad things happen. Could God intervene and stop a man from shooting a child? Of course. But when could He stop intervening if it were His desire to control us and force us to do nothing but good. How many times a day would He have to stop your thoughts, your actions, or your words? Are we not then just slaves?

We are not slaves. We are not robots. We are human. And a loving God has no choice but to allow us to choose our own path. Those who choose to kill, rob, and destroy have selected their eternal destiny. Just as those who choose to reject Him have also selected their destiny. Hell is an extreme punishment, which is why the decision is so important, hopefully given more time and consideration than one gives the selection of a McDonald’s Meal Deal.

No, the child was not given a choice in his death. Few people ever choose the time and method of their demise. What we can choose, however, is where we will go upon departing this very temporary existence. And it is temporary, whether you die at birth or live to be a hundred, in the perspective of eternity. That child is undoubtedly in the arms of his Heavenly Father, never to shed a tear again, nor feel pain, nor sorrow.

Like it or not, his killer has the same opportunity, if he repents of his sins and turns to Jesus. While that may offend you, rest assured that when you count your own digressions, you will be so joyful that God can forgive you that you will forget the killer’s one “unforgivable” sin.

What is more important than God’s supposed blind-eye to evil is His perfect eye for justice. In that we are all condemned. But in His eternal love, He has offered even the worst of sinners a way to be redeemed.

And it is that for which you must be mindful. Weep for the child, pray for his killer, then look within to see where you yourself have fallen short and find yourself in need of a Savior.

If you’re ready to go further, please read The First Step.

Your servant,

Ron

Watching and Waiting

Did you browse the headlines today? For that matter, have you browsed them every day for the past…oh…Fifty years or so?

Answer this question quickly–is the world getting better or worse?

Now, I understand that we’ve had some hopeful moments during the last few decades–the fall of the Berlin Wall, a couple of nice strings of good economic news, the cancellation of 30 Something. But when observed from a long term perspective, much like drawing a line through a cluster of points on a graph, I think we can all agree that the world is slipping deeper into violence, immorality, financial despair, and an overall sense of hopelessness.

What are you going to do about it? You can worry each day away as you watch your 401k shrink to piggy-bank proportions. You can vote in the next politician who will save us all. You can turn to the bottle, pills, sex, name your favorite addiction.

Or you can smile and look forward to the next day.

Well, how do I do that, Ron, when I owe more on my house than it’s worth and nuclear bombs are probably being traded on the black market like pirated films?

Turn it over to God. That’s how.

You see, what you’re watching is the ten-thousand foot view of the world. It’s ugly. It’s dark. And there are still reruns of 30 Something.

But once you move that view back to the heavenly view–God’s perspective–things fall into place. I know, you’ve heard it before–bad things happen for a reason. Well, in this case, all things happen for a reason.

Take a short trip back in time with me:

1776 – the U.S. becomes a nation – a good thing, but the states couldn’t agree on slavery, so…
1861 – the U.S. is torn by civil war – a bad thing, but the states remained united, so…
1918 – the U.S. enters WWI and defeats Germany – a good thing, but Germany is left in economic ruin and desperations grips the nation, so…
1932 – Hitler rises to power and begins the slaughter of 6 million Jews – a bad thing, but America joins the fight again and defeats the Germans, so…
1947 – the newly formed U.N. and the U.S. establish Israel as homeland for the Jews after nearly 2000 years of being without a homeland – a good thing, but this causes major tensions in the Middle East, so…
2012 – Israel is surrounded by enemies and her strongest ally, the U.S., is on the verge of financial disaster and her military is spread thin – a bad thing, but…

God has a plan, and He foretold all this in His Word. He foretold that Israel would be scattered among the nations. He foretold that the Jews would be persecuted mercilessly. He foretold that Israel would one day be a nation again (no other nation has disappeared for 2000 years and returned). He foretold that, in the last days, Israel would be surrounded by her enemies and suffer another major war.

He also foretold that Israel would finally turn to God–something He’s been after them to do since Moses hauled them out of Egypt–in the end because they had no where else to turn.

That’s a good thing.

Now, the purpose of this here blog is not to convince you that we are in the Last Days. In fact, Jesus said the Last Days began with His ministry here on Earth. But we are to watch and wait. And we are to be filled with anticipation and expectation of that blessed day when God erases evil from the Earth and brings all His children home to Heaven.

Which should be your perspective-the heavenly view. Yes, we must live our lives, do our jobs, raise our families. But we need not worry over the state of this world. It is going to get worse. Wars will spread across the globe. Christians may even suffer persecution in once safe nations, even killed for our belief. But we will remain hopeful until the end. Whatever we have to fear pales in comparison to the riches that await us, whether that happens tomorrow, in twenty years, or the day we breathe our last.

In the perspective of eternity, it’s but a few moments away. Worry not my friends. If you’ve prayed to have Jesus come into your heart, you have nothing to fear.

And everything to rejoice over.

Don’t know Jesus yet? Then visit my first post – The First Step. Make that decision today and enjoy the peace that follows.

I’m a Good Person

Are you really a good person? Are you sure? Even by God’s standards? Let’s try a little test.

1. Have you ever told a lie? Even a little one?

2. Have you ever stolen? An office pen? Software?

3. Have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain? You know, like when you say “Oh my God!”

These are just three of the ten commandments. These are God’s perfect standards. Yes, I’m sure I’d think you were a good person if I met you. But I’m not your ultimate judge. God is. And if He is perfect, his justice has to be perfect. And if you’ve broken any of His commandments, you deserve punishment.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God.” – Romans 3:23. All means ALL. We cannot be good enough on our own for God.

That’s the bad news (for me, too).

The Good News is that God is also a loving, merciful God. But He’s still a just God. So what’s a loving, merciful, just God to do???

Fortunately for us, He saw this problem coming from the very beginning, and he gave us a way to pay for our sins. The Jews in the Old Testament had to sacrifice animals, usually a lamb. And not just any lamb. The best of the flock.

God provided a Perfect Lamb to pay our sin debt. His name is Jesus. Jesus is the only man to ever live a perfect, sinless life. That’s because He is the Son of God. He came to Earth to suffer and die on a cross as our sin offering, the Perfect Lamb of God.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23. “Death” in this case means hell. Eternal life is in Heaven.

Now here’s what you have to do to receive this gift from God–you have to 1) confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior and 2) believe that God raised Him from the dead.

“For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9. I know, there must be more to it than that. But there’s not. God desperately wants you in Heaven so He made it as simple as possible for you to get there.

There is no other religion where God has done it all. You can’t earn your salvation. You can only believe and accept it. Can you do that? If you’re ready to join God’s family and reserve your place in His heavenly kingdom, with never a worry about where you’ll go after you die, just pray something like this:

Father in Heaven, I’ve sinned against you. I’m sorry for the sins I’ve committed and will turn away from them. I believe that Jesus is my Lord and that You raised Him from the dead. Today I welcome Jesus into my heart. Send your Holy Spirit to guide me and teach me from this moment forward. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Yeah, it’s just that simple. Nothing you do from now on will make you “more saved.” But you’ll find that you want to praise and worship God and do everything you can for Him. You’ll do it because you want to and it makes you happy. Even better, it makes God happy. He loves you and wants to spend eternity with you.

Welcome home. Leave a comment if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to talk to you.

Your servant,

Ron