Leaven and Doctrine

In the New Testament, sin is sometimes compared with leaven.  Even as a small amount of leaven will leaven the entire lump of dough, sin allowed to remain in a life or a church will permeate and corrupt it.  Leaven is not always a direct reference to sin, however.  Jesus refers to doctrine as leaven.  Doctrine means "instruction, teaching."  Matthew 16:6 states, "Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  The section concludes in Matthew 16:12:  "Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  As there is sound doctrine, there is also bad doctrine.  The doctrine or teaching to which a man holds will influence his life, even as leaven permeates and changes the consistency of dough.  Jesus told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, for adherence to it would corrupt them.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were Hebrew sects who taught the traditions of men as the commands of God, and actually held their traditions in higher regard than God's Word.

We do well to take heed of the doctrine that we expose ourselves to.  If it is doctrine founded upon the naked Word of God, we find a firm, safe foundation for our feet.  The Bible is food indeed for our souls.  Peter affirmed that Jesus alone had the words of life.  There are many teachers and teachings in the world which clamour for acknowledgement and acceptance.  Some are doctrines of demons, doctrines of men, traditional or extra-biblical "revelations" that pull a dark shroud over seeing eyes, and worldly philosophies of men.  As the quality of food we eat correlates directly to the physical health of our bodies, so the doctrine we feed upon will have a spiritual impact.  Even as people have different tastes for food, various doctrines will have more appeal for one person above another.  We must heed and beware of doctrines that do not find their source in the holy scriptures and lure our hearts from remaining fixed upon Christ.

Behold the wisdom of God, that He would use a timeless book through the Holy Spirit's leading to direct us to know Him, receive instruction concerning God's character, daily living for eternity, the natural sinful condition of the heart of man, and the hope of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  May our lives remain unleavened, as we feed daily upon the Bread of Life.  The stream is no purer than the source.  Let us take heed that the streams we seek to satisfy our thirst from spring only from the Source of all wisdom, truth, and strength:  Jesus Christ.

Give God the Credit

I saw an advertisement today about a new iphone.  Apple promotes this product as a ingenious marvel of design, perfectly fitting in the human hand.  The thing I find highly ironic about this commercial is we marvel over advances in modern technology but miss the timeless engineering of the human hand!  What is harder to create:  an ergonomically designed phone, or a hand to effectively use the phone?  There is no way a glass and metallic box of circuits and a battery is more complex than a hand created by God.  The voice over in the ad says concerning the customised screen, "That's either an amazing coincidence, or a dazzling display of common sense.  Pretty sure it's the common sense thing."  Obviously.

Without God, there would be no common sense.  No logical sense comes out of sheer randomness.  No operative systems manage to develop either in the government or in the human body without the control of intelligent beings.  No ordered chains of information arise from nothing.  Books do not write themselves.  Life cannot come from non-life.  Chemicals, not even when carefully mixed and treated in laboratories by the best scientists the world can muster, have ever yielded a single living cell.  If you were to come across an iphone or even a memory stick without ever seeing one before, it would be obvious even to a child that it is a device made by man for a purpose.  When I see a human being, animals, the stars, waterfalls, flowers, and bees, my reason refuses to accept that they are merely accidents or randomly generated beauty.  I give credit to God for creating all I see, for the Bible affirms that without Him nothing was made that is made.

Did you know that your thumbprint is like none other in the whole world?  Factories churn out millions of identical iphones, but God created only one of you.  He loves you and made you as a unique creation according to His design.  It is His delight when the people He creates rejoice in the things He has made and recognise it as the handiwork of an awesome God and worship Him.  A fingerprint on a touch-screen can identify one person in the world, and God's fingerprints are all over us!  Let's give credit where credit is due!

Are You All Alone?

I was deeply saddened over a story reported on cnn.com about Amanda Todd's story, a casualty of blackmail and bullying.  She was a desperate girl who felt all alone.  It seems a regrettable decision led to a spiral of panic, fear, and shame.  Instead of finding support among those Amanda thought were her friends, she was driven away.  I know that Amanda is not alone.  Many people in this world are victims of brutal and malicious bullying.  But they are not as alone as they might think.  There is hope for the hopeless, if we will believe and receive it.

You might be very alone in this world, without a single friend.  Perhaps enemies surround you on every side.  You are judged and misjudged.  You feel forgotten and lost in the darkness.  You have made decisions that you regret and wish you could take them back.  The hurt and pain are so real and raw you are desperate.  So-called friends have betrayed and disowned you.  Maybe you are even hurting yourself because of the pain.  Is there anyone who cares?  Please allow me to offer a handshake and a hug to you.  I'm so sorry you are hurting.  I'm sorry for the things you have suffered.  You might ask, how can I truly love you without knowing you?  I can legitimately love you because Jesus loves me.  He has changed my heart.  Jesus says this in John 15:12:  "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

How has Jesus loved me?  1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes this unfailing love.  "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  God has put this love in my heart.  He even gives us the ability to love our enemies.  Jesus proved His love for me by dying on the cross.  I was once an enemy of God, but His love has transformed me.  Are you desperately hungry for this love?  This is no joke.  This love is real and I offer it freely to you.

Please don't believe the lie that you have nobody in the world.  Jesus will have you if you will have Him.  Proverbs 17:17 reads, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."  I'm not perfect, but I offer you love and my friendship.  I can't be there for everyone in the world, but Jesus can!  I will do my best to respond to any messages.

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Beware of Covetousness

Scripture has many profitable uses.  It can be a healing balm or a harsh warning; a stern correction or an everlasting promise that brings comfort.  Many times the Bible will even say what a particular verse is intended to convey.  I have found sometimes we miss the mark in application.  We may apply a verse to ourselves in a way not intended with the immediate context.  It is true that as we interpret scripture with scripture, a single statement may have many facets of true application.  Yet we must be mindful of the primary purpose of a verse when applying it to our lives.

Case in point, take Hebrews 13:5.  It says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  Now people often take the quotation from Christ and apply it for the purpose of comfort and peace.  It is completely legitimate to do so.  It is true that we receive great comfort from the presence of our loving Saviour.  But that is not the primary application of this passage.  The writer of Hebrews is warning against covetousness and exhorting believers to be content with what they have because Jesus has said "I will never leave you or forsake you."  How often have you seen the verse applied in the way it was intended?  Probably not often.  We must be aware of our tendency to apply scripture in the way we are most comfortable with or even avoid direct application God intends!

How does the presence of Jesus keep us from covetousness?  The writer infers that all we have and need is found in the person of Jesus Christ by grace through faith, One who will never leave or forsake us.  Money grows wings and flies away, but Jesus remains our all in all.  Godliness with contentment is great gain, and the more we value Jesus the less we will treasure and desire things of this world.  That is the intended connection.  Jesus warns in Luke 12:15, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  Because covetousness is an ingrained habit in our flesh - desiring for ourselves what is not ours - we are to be acutely aware of knowingly cultivating this sin in our hearts.  The world tells us the exact opposite of Christ.  The world is always affirming that the quality of my life is directly tied to the material goods I possess.  The better the holidays, more money and things, improvements in my physical appearance and health, and obtaining my hearts desire is the recipe for a better life.  But this is a lie.  Real life is only found in Jesus, who is the Way, Truth, and Life.

If Jesus is always with us and will never forsake us, our focus should be primarily on Him.  He feeds the sparrows and knows when a single one falls.  Instead of setting our hearts on what is not, may we value and treasure Christ above all.  Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-33:  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ²⁸ So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."