For All The Right Reasons

 

 

Unless the LORD builds the house,
   the builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
   the guards stand watch in vain.

Psalm 127:1

 

 

 

I noticed yesterday that one of my Xanga subs and friends had unsub'd and unfriended.   Kinda stings a little bit, but then I noticed I was still on this person's protected list.  FYI... Unless you block someone unsubbing and unfriending, won't take them off your protected post list.  You gotta go into settings, and remove them from your "Protected List".  

I sent this former subscriber a private message explaining that I was still on their protected list, and asking if it was alright for me to stay subscribed to their site.  The former sub was perfectly fine with me staying subscribed to them.   This was part of the former subscriber's explanation for unsubscribing.

 

"It was just that when I asked you a straight out question and you came back with a complete non answer, I figured there wasn't much I could learn from you. Although I was really disappointed..."

(This isn't the full statement, but it is the heart of the reasoning.  I have not changed any wording, I just cut out the rest of the message).

 

And what do I say to this?  GOOD ANSWER!!  I absolutely agree, you probably can't learn much from me.  I may not be the teacher you need.  Has God called me to be a teacher?  Has God called me to pastor?  Yes and yes.   But being a teacher and being a pastor doesn't mean I am your teacher or that I am your pastor.  It may be that once you learned something from me.  It might be that once you followed some word of exhortation, rebuke, or encouragement, but now you have no need of me.  Perhaps it is time for someone else to teach or lead in the new situation or circumstance. 

I must confess with my "Such_were_you" site I thought I had something to teach everyone, and I thought everyone should listen to me.  I also must confess that I was wrong.  I should never have presumed that I had anything to teach you, or anyone else for that matter.   What I assume now is that I must offer grace to you, just as God has always offered me grace.  Even when I didn't want to hear God's teachings, and I didn't want God to guide me as a shepherd, God was gracious.  God worked through many means, people, experiences, books, and too many other ways than I can count, to teach me what He desires for me to learn.  God was always gracious toward me, was long suffering with me, and didn't shove.   Many times I'd ask God questions, but He wouldn't answer me.  Sometimes God didn't answer because He knew I couldn't hear what He was telling me; I simply wasn't ready for the answer.  

If the Scripture says, "Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain."  Then can we not say it this way, "Unless the LORD teaches the lesson, the teacher teaches in vain."???  Yes, we may certainly say it that way.   When God teaches me, He knows how to teach me.  He sends many teachers, through many means, and some of the most effective are the teachers I don't agree with most!  But those I don't agree with have a very small window to come through, and the situation has to be just right.  God knows this, but I am not God, and I do not know where the small window is, and I do not know the just right situation for you.  I hope I serve God when I write, but that doesn't mean I am serving God when I write.  If you follow what I teach, and it is not the LORD teaching the lesson, then you believe in vain.  It is the teaching of a mere man you hear, and it is a mere man you are following.  I do not want to conform anyone to my image and likeness.  For you to be conformed to my image and likeness would be the most horrible thing I can imagine!!!   The most wonderful thing I can imagine is for you and me to be conformed to the likeness of Christ.  

Is Christ in the Roman Catholic faith, is Christ among the Baptists, is Christ in the Presbyterian church???  Why yes Christ may express Himself as He likes.  Do I have something to learn from my Roman Catholic brother, and from my Baptist sister, and might I also learn something from a Calvinist??  Why yes indeed, many in the body of Christ may have much to teach me.  Do I believe God wants me to be a Roman Catholic, a Baptist, or a Calvinist??  No, I do not believe Christ has called me to be a Roman Catholic, a Baptist, and He most certainly does not want me to be a Calvinist.  When the Roman Catholics, Baptists, and the Calvinists learn God hasn't called me to be what they are, then the lessons may begin.   Christ, and Christ alone is the lesson.  I realize many Roman Catholics, Baptists, and Calvinists think God wants me to be one of them, but you are wrong.  

God has this most peculiar way of thinking... God actually believes that He knows what is best for us.  God believes that He, and He alone can conform us to the image and likeness of His Son Jesus!!   Doesn't God have strange beliefs??  Won't God be happier when He realizes people need to be conformed to the image and likeness of the Roman Catholic, the Baptist, the Calvinist???  What a ridonkulous God!!!  He believes He is God, and knows best.  

I'll tell you the truth... I believe God knows best... Yes, ridonkulous, I know!  Perhaps you will learn something from something I've taught here.  If you have then it must serve God, and not me.  I can be right with God, but I can be right about a matter, and be wrong with God.  I want to be right with God.  If God has taught you something through me, well, praise be to God.   But, if God isn't the teacher, then don't listen.    I'm not going to presume to be your teacher; I did once, but I will not again.  And should the day come you do not think you can learn anything through me, then by all means unsub and unfriend.  I support your decision 100%!!!

• I am passionate, so I'm still gonna sound very much as I always have.  Passion doesn't equal truth.  I am passionate, and I communicate in a passionate way.  Don't be overcome or impressed in any way by my passion.   
  
• Also I am not saying that there are many pathways to God's truth.  There is one path to God and only one path to truth:  Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, is God's path and God's truth.  We need to get in line with God's truth.  Don't let passion, precision, good sounding doctrine sway you from the simple truth in Christ Jesus. 
  
• God teaches us through many people, means, and experiences with Him, as we seek to walk obediently with Him.  Don't single out one teacher, and think that one teacher is God's only way of teaching. 
  
• However God teaches His teaching will always line up with what He has already spoken and we have recorded in the Scriptures.  God doesn't give a word which violates or cancels what He has already said.
• God's truth isn't man's truth.  God's ways are not man's ways.  Do not ever expect God to use the ways of men to accomplish His eternal ends.  God has given us all the answer to all the world's problems we're ever gonna need... God's answer is and will always be Jesus of Nazareth, the One, and only Son of God.  Be willing to let go of anything and everything in and of the world, and eventually God will be able to teach you.

So If God teaches you through me today, I am humbly blessed, and most honored to of service to the cause of Christ.  But if God stops teaching through me, then don't hesitate to unsub and or unfriend.   God has many means, many teachers, many experiences, but...

"Unless the LORD teaches the lesson, the teacher teaches in vain." 

 

 

 

No Grownups Allowed

 

 

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

 Matthew 18:3

 

 

 

Stop and think about it for a moment...When we are made born again, a brand new spirit, born of God's own Spirit, we are a new born creation shoved into an old world worn sinner's body and soul.   Can you say ISSUES??   We don't "feel" any different, but by faith we are expected to believe we are made different; vastly different.   Why else does Jesus tell us, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children..."???  Jesus knows when the Holy Spirit births a new spirit that spirit is going into an old sinner.  "Change and become like a little child..." is not only some of the best advice anyone ever gave, but, as Jesus clearly says, "Truly I tell you..." it is absolutely what must happen.   As usual, when Jesus tells us, "This is very important for your eternal destiny," we ignore what He tells us, and we fit Jesus into our lives as it suits us.   "There is a way which looks and feels right, but it is the street leading to the graveyard."  (My paraphrase of Proverbs 14:12)   Jesus is absolutely serious.   

Why does Jesus insist; require; demand that we must change and become like little children?   Well, tell you what, next time you're in your church do a little experiment.   First approach an adult man, and say, "Would you take my hand, walk with me, and allow me to lead you around the church building?"   Don't offer an explanation, simply offer your hand.  Do I need to tell you the response you'll receive?   If you are an adult guy asking to lead another adult guy around by holding his hand you might even get threatened, with physical violence, for trying to hold the other guy's hand.   Okay, so it's not a very good idea to ask a grown man to be part of this little experiment.   So instead approach a teenaged guy, saying, "Would you take my hand, walk with me, and allow me to lead you around the church building?"   Make sure you aks the young man in front of a large group of his friends.   If you are an adult male offering a teenaged male your hand to hold, so you can lead him around, you might even earn yourself a beautiful pair of silvery looking bracelets linked together by a little chain, and locked against your will round your wrists, behind your back.   Okay, okay, it's a bad idea to approach a teenager, offer to hold his hand, and to lead him wherever you want to go.   

So, alright, let's try something completely different...  Approach the mom of a little fellow, and ask if you can take him for a little stroll around the building.  You can even take the stroll around the building in full view of mom and dad, if that helps.   Offer the little tyke your hand, and see if he'll take it.  See if the little guy will walk along with you, allowing you to lead him by the hand.  Having performed this little experiment myself, I know it works.  The little guy will go wherever you want him to go, even if it takes making it into a fun little game the little one isn't hard to convince.  Even Jesus proved this one to the group of people listening to him teach..."Jesus called a little child to him, and placed the child among them."  Matthew 18:2.  How's that for visual aids?   "Hey kid, come here..."  

It doesn't take a theological brain trust to figure this one out.  Where Jesus tells us to go, and what Jesus tells us to become isn't something any adult or teenager would ever do willfully.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also]." 

Matthew 16:24

 

Only a little child will do and go wherever he/she is made to go.   "Come and do as I say.  Come and do whatever I tell you to do, but know that obedience will kill you."   Yeah, grownups will line up to do what they're told with the understanding they'll die for their obedience...  NOT!!!  Only a little child will do what they are told to do.  Oh, the little child may even go kicking and screaming, but go they will, make no mistake about it.   Children have no choice, but to do what their parent(s) desires for them to do.   The call of Christ is absolutely a call to to a new life, but there can be no doubt, the call of Jesus Christ is to death as well.   Death to our way of being; death to our way of thinking; death to our way of behaving; death to the ways of all the world around us! 

If you are born again, just as it is for a parent and his little child, God will calls us, places us, and you have NO choice.  Is your mind filling with arguments and excuses?   Has a "Screw You!" type of statement jumped into your mind?  Formulating an intelligent, well written, gentle, but definite, "NO!," kind of comment??  

 

Christ calls you, and Christ will place you, exactly where He desires.   Nothing of Christ's call or placement will be agreeable to us.  Are you a "Jesus R Us" kid?? 

 

 

 

Confessions of a Reluctant Shepherd

 

ON:

 

What Does Jesus Say?  What Does Jesus Teach?

 

 

 

 

"And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 18:3

 

 

 

 

One of the hardest things for me to know, when writing a blog post is, "Where do I begin?"  When I started blogging on Xanga in November, 2005, I assumed the majority of Christians knew what I knew and much more than I knew.   I gave everyone the benefit of the doubt, and it was way too much benefit.   The only thing I have to go on are the comments I receive on a post.  And when I talk about knowing I don't mean mere knowledge of the Scripture texts.  What I mean is, "knowing Christ and being in relationship with Christ."  

I've been thinking for a long time that we read the words of Christ, but we don't believe the words of Christ enough to put them into practice.  What we do is receive Christ and fit Him into our current lives.   The problem with integrating Christ into our existing life and lifestyle is the New Testament teaches us integration is the wrong thing to do.   Christ adds nothing to our old or flesh nature, and we add nothing to the new spiritual nature born of Christ, the Holy Spirit births in us.   What does Christ think of our old natural born spirit?  

 

"But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men."

Matthew 16:23 (Amplified Bible)

 

I've read several commentaries which said that Satan was influencing Peter.  I might agree with that thinking, but Jesus makes it clear that it is Peter's nature which opposes the cause of Christ.  Why else would Jesus say in verse 24...

 

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also]."

Matthew 16:24

 

Why not simply tell His disciples, "Renounce Satan...," if Satan is in control in this situation?   Jesus says, "let him deny himself...," not "If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny Satan."  

 

"Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God."

Romans 8: 5-8 (NIV)

 

The flesh nature; sin nature; or human nature is God's enemy, and when we're operating from our flesh nature we're guilty of the same behavior as Peter in Matthew 16:23.  Truth be told, we are all the Satan any of us will ever need!  (Satan means "opposition" or "one who opposes").  Our in born human nature is in the likeness of Satan.  God cannot even save our old human natures.  God must begin again; He has to make us born again, of His own Holy Spirit.   In Ephesians 4:22-24 this is what we're taught:

 

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;  to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

 

THIS THINKING IS THE THINKING WE SEE IN OUR CHURCHES IN AMERICA!!!!

What a silly book the Bible is.  We're told our human mind, controlled by our human nature is the enemy of God.   Then we're told to "put off the old self," how silly!   I can't stop being me!  I can't be other than I am!  How silly the Bible is!  Instead of throwing myself out I shall keep, of the Bible, what sounds good to me, and throw out what doesn't sound good to me.

Of course we would never actually come out and say such things, but it is what we do which proves what we really believe.   Jesus had His own way of explaining it, in Luke 6:46,  “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?"   And with this question Jesus tells the story of the wise and foolish builders.  The wise builder digs deep and builds on bed rock. (The bed rock of Christ and obedience to His lessons).  As for the foolish builder, the one who hears the words of Jesus but doesn't do what Jesus says, his life is destroyed. 

It would be better to never hear what Jesus teaches, if we aren't going to do what He says.  When you read or hear the word of God then God holds you responsible to do what Jesus teaches.  You are responsible to dig down, past human understanding, dig past human feeling, dig into the truth of God, and do what Jesus teaches.   If you hear the words of Christ, but do not do what He teaches you are a fool.   Thanks be to God!!  He hears the humble, repentant prayers of believers!  If you have not obeyed Christ in the past; if you have payed mere lip service to Christ as Lord; if you have put yourself ahead of Christ, then repent!  Turn to God and He will hear you, have mercy upon you, and strengthen and enable you to do the work of digging into Christ.  

 

 

"And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

 

Matthew 18:3

 

So with the next post we'll look at Matthew 18:3...  

 

 

 

 

I'M A RETAIL MANAGER

 

 

 

What my friends think I do...

 

 

 

 

What my mother thinks I do...

 

 

 

What society thinks I do...

 

 

 

 

What my boss thinks I do...

 

 

 

 

 

What I think I do...

 

 

What I really do...

 

 

 

 

Just Being Me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SQUARE PEG SURROUNDED BY ROUND HOLES?

Story of my life...

 

 

 Opener of worm cans?

     

Wall to wall worms  24/7/365

 

 

Always walking with one foot up on the curb, and one foot off?

 Exactly!

 

 

 

 On The Outside Looking In?

 

It will always be this way...

I do not fit in, never have, and never will.   I wanna conform, and I'd kill myself to do it.  I can't be a nonconformist.  I remember standing in a long line at a "stop and rob" quickie mart, outside Champaign, IL.  It was the same place I always stopped for gas and snacks for the 3.5 hour drive home.   The clerk was something extraordinary to behold.  She was a very physically unattractive girl.   But what she lacked in natural beauty she made up for with a truly horrific display of multicolored hair, goth clothing, a face so covered with piercings she looked like a connect the dots page from a coloring book.  What the metal didn't cover she attempted to bury beneath layers of vampire makeup.   She was a freak of nature, not mother nature, but a construct of her chosen alternative anti-establishment group.  

The scary chick behind the register was a kindred spirit.  The difference between us was she'd found a group who would finally accept her, and she rose or lowered herself, to the level of those who'd accepted her.   I  have never found a group into which I fit, because I do not like willfully lowering myself merely to have a place to fit.  I try, but then God starts confronting me from the pages of the Bible.  I'm not a non-conformist.  I've always wanted to fit in so badly I'd have happily killed myself, nearly did more than once, to conform.   The weird looking clerk found a place to conform, and she exactly looked the part.   "If you can't beat them, and they won't let you join them, then f*** them! And make your own group to fit into", is how that kind of thing works.  

I suppose it could be argued I'd found a place when I self-identified as gay.  But calling myself gay based completely on the premise:  "I feel this way, therefore I am..." has always seemed to be utterly absurd.   In the end I did learn "feelings" should not be trusted in life and death situations.   If a matter is of life and death importance then treat it with the care and respect such situations deserve.   Today I am G.O.D. positive and HIV negative (and negative for every other STD as well).   I refused to settle for less and got more than I'd ever hoped or dreamed I could have.  

Someone might say I have found a group to fit into:  The Church.   That isn't true either.  I have never fit into "the church" as we know it.   When I came to Christ I found the one person who had overcome the world, sin, "me, myself, and I," every temporary worldly concern and thing, and a whole lot more!   God has never allowed me to settle for less than what He wants.   God showed me early on the perfect prayer:

"God I want Your perfect will, not your permissive will.  Please God do not ever let me settle for less than Your perfect will.  In Jesus' name, Amen!"

 

I will always be on the outside of "the American church", looking in.  Does this mean I think I understand all things?  Do you honestly think I am following God, and if you don't look like me, I think you aren't following God???   If I thought you, my readership, didn't have important insights from God, He hasn't bestowed upon me, and believed you weren't truly interested in serving God, I wouldn't waste my time on you.

God has never given up on me, and he has never given into my demanding tantrums to,  "Just leave me alone!"   In fact the last time I told God, "Leave me alone,"  He told me, "DON'T YOU EVER TELL ME TO LEAVE YOU ALONE AGAIN!"  I have never experienced something that intense in all my life.   The fear of God is more than simple reverence. 

There is a line from the movie The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, which fits what I'm talking about perfectly.  There is a conversation between Naomi Watts' character and her boss. 

 

Naomi Watts:  "We have to find the truth!  And finding the truth means taking responsibility."

Boss            :  "Yes, exactly!  Which is why people avoid the truth at all cost!"

 

[Those aren't the exact lines, but it's close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades]

 

The truth is Jesus Christ has overcome the world, and everyone born again, of the Holy Spirit, overcomes the world.  It is the responsibility of the Church of Jesus Christ to allow Him to overcome the world (utterly defeat and destroy the ways of the world) in and through them.   

The truth is Jesus Christ cancelled our earthly citizenship the moment the Holy Spirit made us born again.  

 

"...for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world."

John 17:14 

 

"They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."

John 17:16

 

The truth is just as Father sent Jesus into the world, Jesus sent us into the world.  The same call Father God gives Jesus, Jesus gives to His Church.

 

"As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world."

John 17:18

 

Before anyone wastes my time telling me, "That's your opinion, Lonnie," let me just say this:  My opinion, until quite recently, has been:  "God, I think You should leave me alone, and let me live out my life quietly.   Wasn't being gay punishment enough for one lifetime?"  The church in America hated or ignored me as a gay man, and they still hate me now.  Telling the American church the truth will only succeed in getting me killed. 

I'm not going to die for my opinion.  I'm going to die because the truth means having to take responsibility, just EXACTLY as Jesus commands, and American christians will do almost anything to avoid the truth.  I don't have any choice in the matter.   I've prayed for years:  "God I want Your perfect will, please do not let me settle for less."  

• I am not a citizen of the world any longer.   "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."  ~Jesus of Nazareth.  You are either a citizen of Christ's kingdom, or you are a citizen of a worldly one.  Jesus does not allow for duel citizenship.   Jesus said it 2,000 years ago, and since, "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever...," the decree of Christ holds true to this day.  
  
• The Father sent Jesus into the world to save it, and Jesus sends us into the world, filled with the Holy Spirit, and through us Jesus Christ continues His ministry.  
  

 

"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." 

Ephesians 2:10

 

"Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

John 14:12

 

 

To the Christians in America I will always be a "bad penny,"  but if I could have my way I'd like to just quietly sit in the background fitting in.  

 

 

 

 

One last thing...

 

I will never again vote or take part in any political party, or political activity, for any reason whatsoever.  I do not have a problem with America in the least.  I am blessed to have been born in America.  I have enormous problems with American Christians who will not give themselves over to following Christ's ways and Christ's agenda.   Too many American Christians have deceived themselves and others into believing God must bless and prosper their self-centered and self-serving agenda.   God blesses and prospers only the work done in and through us by the Holy Spirit.   For God to bless and prosper human agendas and human ways would be to deny Himself; would make God a liar; and make God subservient to human whim. 

For it is written:  

"Let the wicked forsake their ways
   and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
   and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,”
            declares the LORD.

 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:7-9

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

In Christ, Grace Is...

 

 

 

The New Law:

 

^"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Ephesians 2:8-10

 

 

 

 

I want to be circumspect in this post.  I want to, as I say in the title, offer grace.   I'm always looking for comments from my readership which provoke or spur thought for me.  It is my hope to provoke thought in those who read this.  What I do not believe will be productive is to provoke an angry hornet's nest response.   When Barbara @blonde_apocalypse said, of this picture,    "I don't see a thing wrong with the sign.", I took it as an opportunity to address an area God has been working in my own life.   GRACE the Law of Christ: 

^" And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

John 1:14-18 {Bold script is my addition}

 

"For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."  So we begin with law, through one messiah, Moses, but we end with Jesus Christ in truth and grace.  Truth and grace are where we stay.   I've said it many times before and I'll say it again, if all we give is law then we do not give the truth.   Does this mean law has no truth?   What does Jesus say?  "...and the truth shall set you free."   Can law set anyone free?  No, in law there is no freedom.  Law is for law breakers, and God's Law condemns all law breakers.   This is why there are no "law abiding" citizens in heaven.  Where there is law there are law breakers, and the only possible result is death.

"We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers."

 

"IF" you are righteous you are not a law abiding citizen.  If you are righteous you are under grace, not law.   If you are in the kingdom of God you are under the rule of grace, not the rule of law.  If you are still under law then you are a law breaker, and will die by the law, apart from and without grace.  If you are a born again believer then you are dead to sin, and so cannot be under law.  You are under grace. 

If you are born again you live in dichotomy.  You are a natural born citizen of a sin soaked and sick world, but have been made born again to citizenship in Christ's kingdom.  Both kingdoms clash and crash at every point they touch.  We live in an impossible place, and all too often we see fellow Christians crash and burn.  I'm not interested in rubbing salt, into an already sore spot, where the earthly kingdom and the kingdom of God crash, namely: 

"Where do my rights as a citizen of the human kingdom end, and my responsibility toward my new sovreign Lord and savior begin?"   

The question raised in my recent post:  IS THERE A PLACE IN JESUS FOR MY HOLSTERS? appears to be about giving up my guns and pacifism, but that is really not what is important.   I cannot tell any of you, that I honestly believe God condemns anyone who defends the innocent from evil with lethal force.  The salient is:  LAW or GRACE, your choice.  And I care very little about the rights of either myself, or my fellow Christians.   Okay, that isn't going to come across as gracious, but this is the starting point.  Look at what Jesus says to us:

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.   What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

 

WOW!  Still not looking too gracious, am I??? 

Okay, everybody, consider this:  It took about a decade for God to get hold of me and begin changing my perspective.  It's a growth thing.  Growing in Christ, and being conformed to the image of Christ, is the real point.  The point of bringing up the guns, was to reveal what I know was in me, and is in many of you.   No one has to agree with me, but if we call ourselves believers in Christ then we, you and I, have got some growing in Christ to do.   It isn't that we ever have to give up anything.  WE GET TO... We get to be conformed to the image and likeness of Christ.   WE GET TO... be free from the destructive ways of the lost world.  WE GET TO... be freed by being conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus.  What could be worth hanging onto, when Christ is offered??  I don't "have to do" anything, I GET TO... have the eternal life, hope, peace, joy unspeakable in the presence of God.

My life doesn't belong to me any longer.  My life was purchased at a great cost, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  Whatever I've held dear and of value fails in view of Christ.  EVERYTHING IS UP FOR GRABS IN MY LIFE!  But it only works...I can only give my life up for grabs if I am in GRACE.  "IF" I have to give up anything, then I am under LAW.  So I struggle toward GRACE, where "I get to..." 

 

Are you living under the Law, and "have to"?  OR  Are you under Grace, and you "get to"?

   

 

@LKJSlain, @mtngirlsouth, @grammarboy, @trunthepaige, @lonelywanderer2, @TheGreatBout, @SirNickDon

 

 

 ...The citizens of the kingdom of God are all GRACE abiding citizens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Being Conformed to the Image and

Likeness of Christ

 

 

"Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden..."

"LAMB CHOPS TONIGHT Y'ALL!"

 

 

  

 

This is the picture I posted with my last blog post, and it brought this comment from @blonde_apocalypse

 

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This is my response, and I must confess I like it.  It kinda made me laugh..

 

My father was an avid gun collector, and he taught all of us how to fire and maintain a firearm.  He also started teaching us gun safety when we were very little kids.  I have no problem with guns, the Second Amendment, hunting, or even with the use of deadly force to protect the women folk (or men folk for that matter), and all the tiny tots.   I was raised by parents who valued deeply their citizenship, and were always conspicuously patriotic.  I have an American pedigree which is nothing short of stellar; a signer of The Declaration of Independence, and ancestors who served in nearly every armed conflict beginning with the Revolutionary war right up to today.  My oldest brother has served, with distinction, at the Pentagon, for many years.  First in the Army, and now as a civilian, doing the same job he did while in the service.

Until most recently I had several firearms of my own, which I inherited from my dad.  But recently I've given my firearms to my two older brothers.  I have been confronted more and more with my new citizenship in Christ's kingdom, and the conflicts between his kingdom and my earthly citizenship.   God is conforming us to the image and likeness of His Son, and these are a few things Jesus teaches:

"Blessed are the peacemakers,For they shall be called sons of God."  Matthew 5:9

 If the peacemakers are called the sons of God what do we call the gun makers?  To be conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus is to be a peacemaker.

 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."  John 3:17

If Jesus doesn't come to condemn the world, but, rather, He came to save it, then to be conformed to the image and likeness of Christ is to offer eternal life and salvation through the gospel.  Firearms condemn.

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'  But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also."

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven."   Matthew 5:38-39 & 43-45

To be conformed to the image and likeness of Christ means not standing on my legal rights, but rather doing good to the world which is God's enemy.   And being conformed to the image and likeness of Christ means "love your enemies..."  And Jesus doesn't simply stop at teaching love of enemies, but that love for enemies is synonymous with being the children of Father God.  YIKES!!   Guns are most definitely all about my legal right to demand the life of an evil person who has earned that wage, but God is conforming me to the image and likeness of Jesus, so how does being like Jesus work at all with shooting the evil person a Christian is told not to resist??

"Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”"  Luke 23:34

That is the coup de grace!  There Jesus hangs on a cross, looking at the very people who have wrongly condemned convicted and executed Him, but He PLEADS FOR THEIR LIVES!   This is the one I can't get around at all, no matter how I've tried to justify my potential use of lethal force, I can't in light of what Jesus does.  God is conforming me to the image and likeness of Christ, and Christ pleads for the forgiveness of those who murder Him!!!   This is what God is conforming me to be like.  

With all of God's conforming going on, within us, who in the Church would have such a sign?  I'm not saying there is never any call for the use of deadly force, but where does it fit in the life conformed to the image and likeness of Christ??  Could Jesus, hanging on the cross, have possibly used a gun to shoot His way out, then looked up to heaven and pleaded with Father for forgiveness for the men He shot or shot at?!       

Don't get me wrong I miss my guns, but I can't find a place in the image and likeness of Jesus for my holsters, or gun rack!!

 

 

 

I think this is a problem, anyone else?

 

 

 

I saw a blog today asking Christians what they feel are the Church's biggest problems.  I'd link it, but I had to follow a lot of links to get there, and I think I clicked on a few links accidentally to get there.  I've tried backtracking and going to history, and I can't find it.  I had no idea how many sites I visit during the day, a lot!!  I was surprised by some of the responses, but saw many of the reasons I give all the time. 

 

I'll give you my top 5, and I'd appreciate it if you'd share your top 5, in no particular order.

1. Failure to give precedence to, and disobedience to Christ's teachings.
2. Lack of personal prayer and Bible study among leaders and laity alike.
3. Lack of discipleship
   
4. Leadership structure following a business model rather than Christ's model
5. Failure to purposefully build community (including relationships across denominational lines), while at the same time, building a political consensus with incredible vigor and purpose.  (Setting aside God's agenda, for a worldly agenda).

 

 

What would you say are the top 5 problems the Church in America should focus on?

 

 

 

 

On Missing The Point

 

Chuck & Beans

 

 

Another case of missing the point: